NEET Paper Leak Fallout: Centre appoints IRS, IA&AS officers as NTA Joint Directors to tackle staff crunch
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ May 16,2026
Established in May 2018 as an autonomous “premier testing organisation,” the National Testing Agency (NTA) has been grappling with two major structural challenges — excessive dependence on outsourced manpower and a persistent shortage of permanent staff.
In an effort to strengthen the agency’s administrative framework, the government had earlier created 16 new posts. However, most of these positions continue to remain vacant. So far, only three Joint Directors have joined the organisation, while the NTA still relies heavily on 43 contractual employees for its functioning.
Amid continuing concerns over staffing and operational capacity, the government on Saturday appointed two more officers from the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) and the Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IA&AS) as Joint Directors in the NTA. The move is aimed at improving institutional stability and reducing the agency’s dependence on temporary staffing arrangements.
