New Delhi, Aug 28: The Centre has appointed two directors and a joint director to the National Testing Agency (NTA), which has faced criticism over issues surrounding competitive examinations, including the NEET paper leak controversy.
According to separate orders issued by the Personnel Ministry on August 27, Ravi Kumar Singh, an Indian Police Service officer, and Prasanna Venkatesh V, an IAS 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 as joint director.
The orders stated that all three officers must assume their new assignments within three weeks of the issuance of the orders. Failure to do so would result in the initiation of the process for debarment from the Central Staffing Scheme.
The appointments come as the government moves ahead with a comprehensive overhaul of the NTA's examination system following concerns over the conduct and integrity of major entrance tests.
The proposed reforms include a four-tier paper-checking system, the removal of around 600 experts and the induction of domain specialists to strengthen the examination process.
The government has been undertaking several measures to improve transparency, security and reliability in examinations conducted by the NTA.
