New Delhi: Facing criticism after the National Testing Agency (NTA) cancelled the NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) 2026 examination amid allegations that the question paper was leaked through “guess papers”, Union minister for education Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday (May 15) said that the government would not accept the recommendations of a parliamentary panel report that had been critical of the NTA, as it included members of the opposition.“I do not want to go by the observations of the parliamentary committee. I will go by the Radhakrishnan committee. I will go by facts, I don’t want to make political remarks,” said Pradhan while addressing a press conference.“The Opposition members are in the parliamentary committee. You know better than me how they prepare the reports,” he added.Pradhan’s remarks came in response to a question on the recommendations of the parliamentary standing committee on education which had in its report tabled in parliament in December said that the performance of the NTA in the last year had “not inspired much confidence.” The committee is headed by Congress MP Digvijaya Singh and includes 30 members of both the government and the opposition.The NTA, which was established in 2018, has the mandate of conducting major examinations including the JEE (Main) for admission to undergraduate engineering programs in the NITs and other prestigious engineering institutions and the NEET-UG for undergraduate medical college admissions.Also read: NEET 2026 Re-Examination on June 21, Minister Pradhan Says Exam to be Computer-Based from Next Year“It has been brought to the notice of the Committee that in the 3 year 2024 alone, of the 14 competitive examinations conducted by the NTA, at least five faced major issues and as result, three examinations viz. UGC-NET, CSIR-NET and NEET-PG had to be postponed, one examination viz. NEET-UG saw instances of paper leaks, and one examination i.e CUET (UG/PG) saw its results postponed,” the committee had said in its report.Pradhan on Friday announced computer-based tests from next year, while saying that the government has “zero tolerance” towards irregularities.The parliament committee report on the other hand had recommended that NTA put a greater emphasis on pen-and-paper testing after noting there are several models of such examinations which have been leak-proof for several years, including the CBSE exams and the UPSC exams.In the case of computer-based tests, the committee recommended that these exams be hosted only in government or government-controlled centres and never in private centres.In a statement Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said that the minister’s refusal to acknowledge the parliamentary standing committee is “a dismissal of his own party’s MPs and the Indian parliament’s bipartisan traditions.”“The fact is that of the 30 Members of parliament, 17 are from the BJP itself. Part of the committee’s recommendations include a reiteration of the K. Radhakrishnan Expert Committee’s report that the Minister cites. The Minister’s refusal to acknowledge the Parliamentary Standing Committee is a dismissal of his own party’s MPs and the Indian parliament’s bipartisan traditions,” he said.Nationalist Congress Party–Sharadchandra Pawar’s (NCP–SP’s) Fauzia Khan said that a parliamentary committee “exists to scrutinise, deliberate & recommend — with members from both sides — for the greater good of our children & education system.”“To reject its report simply because it includes opposition voices shows the Minister is guided more by party politics than by parliamentary democracy & the needs of our youth,” she said.