Education Ministry Sacks NTA DG Subodh Kumar Singh, Pradeep Singh Kharola To Take Charge

Taking action in the paper leak controversy, the Education Ministry on Saturday sacked National Testing Agency (NTA) Director General Subodh Kumar Singh. The ministry also announced Kartanaka's retired IAS officer Pradeep Singh Kharola as his replacement for the Director General's position.

The big decision shows that the government is serious about students' careers and no irregularity in examination conduct would be tolerated.

The government has also announced to form a high-level committee for probe in the matter.

A 7-member expert panel aiming to ensure transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations. The moves come as the row over the NEET-UG continued over a week. UGC-NET was cancelled, a day after its conduct as the question paper was leaked on darknet.

The committee will be led by Dr K Radhakrishnan, Former Chairman, ISRO and Chairman BoG, and Dr. Randeep Guleria, Former Director, AIIMS Delhi, Prof. B J Rao, Vice Chancellor, Central University of Hyderabad, Prof. Ramamurthy K, Professor Emeritus, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras, Pankaj Bansal, Co-Founder, People Strong and Board Member- Karmayogi Bharat, Prof. Aditya Mittal, Dean Student Affairs, IIT Delhi, Govind Jaiswal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Education.

An official said he has been put on "compulsory wait" in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) till further orders. India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) Chairman and Managing Director Pradeep Singh Kharola has been assigned additional charge of the testing agency till appointment of a regular incumbent.

"NTA DG has been put on compulsory wait in the Department of Personnel and Training. Pradeep Singh Kharola has been assigned additional charge of NTA DG till further orders," a senior official said. The government has cancelled the UGC-NET even as there are allegations of paper leak in NEET-UG as well and demand for its cancellation.

Who is Pradeep Singh Kharola?

The government of India has appointed Pradeep Singh Kharola, a retired IAS Official of the Karnataka batch, who is currently the Chairman and Managing Director of India Trade Promotion, and now he will have additional charge of the National Testing Agency.

Kharola is a 1985 batch IAS officer.