NEW DELHI: The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Saturday claimed that the allotment of Abu Dhabi as the examination centre for a Nagpur based aspirant appearing for the NEET UG retest on June 21 was made after a request was submitted using the candidate's login credentials.
The student, Abdullah Mohammad Talib, had earlier been allotted a centre at Saraswati Vidyalaya in Nagpur for the original NEET examination. However, after the exam was rescheduled following the question paper leak, the student downloaded his revised admit card and found that his centre had been changed to Abu Dhabi Indian School in the UAE.
According to the family, Nagpur was the student’s first preference while filling the application form, followed by Wardha and Bhandara. The student's father, Mohammad Talib, told a news agency that his son had cried all night and did not even have a visa to travel to the Gulf nation.
However, in a statement issued on Saturday, the NTA claimed the request was made using the candidate's login.
"NTA's web activity records indicate that the city change in this case was made through the candidate's own registered login during the open correction window, with a consistent single user access pattern," it said.
The agency also claimed that the candidate was aware on three occasions that the allotted centre was Abu Dhabi.
"During one login, the centre was changed to Abu Dhabi using the candidate's credentials and twice it was previewed that the centre is Abu Dhabi," the agency said.
The NTA further said that despite the Abu Dhabi centre being selected through the candidate's login, it received an informal request on the evening of June 19, just 48 hours before the examination, seeking a change of centre to Nagpur.
"NTA personnel immediately initiated the change and contacted the candidate's father on 19th evening itself to help them complete the formal process," the statement said.
The agency added that it had adopted a "student first approach" and was keen to ensure that no candidate missed the examination because of an administrative doubt.
Around 3.2 lakh candidates used the correction window, and the NTA allotted the preferred examination city to more than 99.5 per cent of them, it said, emphasising the high success rate in the allotment of examination centres.
The incident comes amid continued scrutiny over the NTA’s handling of major examinations, including concerns related to examination security and administration.
Meanwhile, the NTA has announced extensive arrangements for the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination, scheduled to be held on June 21.