THE NATIONAL Testing Agency (NTA) “has not inspired much confidence”, should quickly get its act together and use the surplus of Rs 448 crore it has collected in the past six years to build its capabilities and conduct tests itself, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education has said in a report presented in Parliament Monday.The committee, headed by Congress’s Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh and including MPs Sunetra Ajit Pawar, Rekha Sharma, Ghanshyam Tiwari, Sambit Patra, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Bansuri Swaraj, noted that in the last few years the results of CUET were not declared in time by the NTA.“Such a delay is a cause of major concern as it not only delays the admission process but also delays the start of the academic session by the on boarded universities which ultimately puts unnecessary pressure on the students. The Committee emphasises that NTA should not only conduct the examinations within time but also declare the results in a time-bound manner,” it said in its report.Referring to 14 competitive examinations conducted by the NTA in 2024, the committee observed that at least five faced major issues — UGC-NET, CSIR-NET and NEET-PG were postponed, NEET-UG saw paper leaks and CUET results were postponed. In the JEE Main exam held in January 2025, at least 12 questions had to be withdrawn due to errors in the final answer key, the committee’s report noted, adding: “The Committee observed that such instances do not inspire confidence of the examinees in the system. The Committee therefore recommends that NTA needs to quickly get their act together so that such instances, which otherwise are fully avoidable, do not occur in future.”Of the Rs 3,512.98 crore that the NTA collected, it has spent Rs 3,064.77 crore, with a surplus of Rs 448 crore in the past six years, the report stated, recommending that this corpus be used to build the NTA’s capabilities to conduct tests itself, or to strengthen regulatory and monitoring capabilities for its vendors.Between pen-and-paper and computer-based exams, the committee supported pen-and-paper exams, citing CBSE and UPSC exams, which have been “leak-proof for several years”.The committee’s report was on the ‘Review of Autonomous Bodies and Institutions — NTA, NAAC, Draft UGC Regulations, ICHR, ICPR, ICSSR, IIAS (Shimla) and Auroville Foundation under the Department of Higher Education’.Story continues below this adThe committee looked into the Draft UGC (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment and Promotion of Teachers and Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education) Regulations, 2025, which was released for feedback in January this year. It faced protest from the Opposition for giving greater control to the Chancellor/Visitor (usually the Governor in state universities) in the appointment of Vice-Chancellors.The UGC told the committee that it received 15,066 feedback on the draft regulations, including those from 10 state governments, 92 associations/federations/societies, 52 universities/colleges, National Commission for Minorities, AICTE, and ICAR, which are being analysed, and considered before the regulations are finalised.The committee has recommended that the UGC should discuss the draft regulations with CABE (Central Advisory Board of Education) to ensure all stakeholders are involved in the consultation process. It has also noted that the position of the UGC chairperson has been vacant since April 2025, and has said that a new chairperson should be appointed as soon as possible.The report has also flagged the delay in finalising the draft UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations 2025, which will replace regulations from 2012. The draft was made public for feedback in February this year. The committee has recommended that this draft should include harassment of students and other stakeholders from OBCs in its definition of caste-based harassment, that it should include disability as an axis of discrimination, and that it should identify instances of discrimination, without which it will be left to the discretion of the institute to decide whether a complaint is genuine or false.Story continues below this adThe committee has also recommended that the UGC consider granting recognition to climate activist Sonam Wangchuk’s Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh, suggesting that the UGC study the institute’s model and consider how it can be replicated elsewhere.Referring to an ongoing investigation into a recent case of bribery in the NAAC, the committee has called for an internal probe into the matter and asked that the findings of the investigation be shared with the committee.