A parliamentary standing committee on Thursday is learnt to have asked the government the reason behind not appointing a regular director-general at the National Testing Agency (NTA) for two years, even after a paper leak in NEET-UG in 2024.

Sources said department of higher education secretary Vineet Joshi, NTA chairman Pradeep Joshi and NTA director-general Abhishek Singh attended the meeting chaired by Congress MP Digvijay Singh, the head of the committee.

Singh took over as the regular NTA DG on April 1 this year.

The panel summoned the meeting against the backdrop of the cancellation of NEET-UG, the national entrance test for undergraduate medical and dental courses this year, over leaked questions.

The NTA chairman heads the governing body that decides larger policy issues, while the DG looks after the agency's daily affairs.

Following the paper leak in 2024, the government had transferred then NTA DG Subodh Kumar Singh in June and made Pradeep Singh Kharola the in-charge DG. Kharola was the chairman and managing director of the India Trade Promotion Organisation.

Rajaesh Lakhani, the commissioner of Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, was given the additional charge of DG NTA in October 2025.

The current DG had barely spent one day in office when the NTA had to conduct the second phase of the Joint Entrance Examination (Main) from April 2 to 8. Within a month of Singh taking charge, the NTA conducted the NEET-UG on May 3. The paper was leaked, leading to the cancellation of the exam.

Last year, the parliamentary panel in its report on the NTA's functioning had found that at least five of the 14 exams conducted by the agency in 2024 faced major issues.