NTA gets three new senior officers amid exam reforms

The Centre has appointed two directors and a joint director to the National Testing Agency (NTA), which has faced criticism over alleged irregularities in major examinations, including the NEET controversy.

According to separate orders issued by the Department of Personnel and Training on August 27, Ravi Kumar Singh, an Indian Police Service officer, and Prasanna Venkatesh V, an Indian Administrative Service officer, have been appointed as directors in the NTA.

Amit Samdariya, a 2016-batch Indian Revenue Service officer from the Customs and Indirect Taxes cadre, has been appointed joint director, another order said.

The orders require all three officers to take charge of their new assignments within three weeks of their issuance. Failure to do so could lead to the initiation of debarment proceedings under the Central Staffing Scheme, the orders stated.

The appointments come as the government moves to strengthen the NTA's examination and administrative framework following criticism over the conduct of entrance and recruitment tests.

The Centre recently announced a comprehensive overhaul of the NTA's examination system. The proposed measures include introducing a four-tier paper-checking process, removing around 600 experts and bringing in domain specialists as part of efforts to improve the reliability and transparency of examinations conducted by the agency.

with inputs from PTI