NTA overhaul: Centre appoints IRS officer as director, another as joint secretary

The Centre on Friday appointed an IRS officer as director and another as joint secretary in the National Testing Agency (NTA), taking forward its ongoing overhaul of the testing body following a series of examination-related lapses.

According to two separate orders issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) on Friday, Anshuman Sharma, IRS (IT:2005), has been appointed joint secretary in the NTA under the Department of Higher Education for five years, or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

The appointment has been made by temporarily upgrading a vacant deputy secretary/director-level post to joint secretary level for an initial period of two years, the order issued by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) said.

In a separate order, the ACC approved the appointment of Sathiya S, IRS (IT:2011), currently director in the Ministry of Cooperation, as director in the NTA on a lateral-shift basis. She will serve in the NTA until August 24, 2030, the balance period of her five-year deputation at director level or until further orders.

The appointments come a day after the Centre on Thursday appointed two directors and a joint director to the NTA. Prasanna Venkatesh V, IAS (AP:2012), and Ravi Kumar Singh, IPS (UT:2012), were appointed directors for five years, while Amit Samdariya, IRS (C&IT:2016), was appointed joint director for four years.

The latest appointments take the number of directors appointed to five and joint directors to four since March 2025. The Centre had appointed Pawan Kumar Sharma and Vijaykumar Vinayakrao Patil as directors and Ashish Gupta as joint director on March 27, 2025. On May 16, 2026, Akash Jain and Aditya Rajendra Bhojgadhiya were appointed joint directors, while Anuja Bapat and Ruchita Vij were appointed joint secretaries.

With Sharma’s appointment, three joint secretaries have now been appointed to the NTA since May 16, the other two being Bapat and Vij.

The appointments are part of the restructuring of the NTA in line with the recommendations of the October 2024 Radhakrishnan committee, which called for strengthening the agency’s permanent manpower to improve accountability. The government subsequently created 16 new posts — eight each at director and joint director levels.

The latest appointments also come amid a wider overhaul of the agency’s examination system. The education ministry said on August 17 that more than 50 NTA staff had been removed, while 10 professional leadership positions were being filled. The NTA subsequently said its examination team had been revamped, with 600 subject experts removed and new experts onboarded, besides introducing a four-tier question-paper scrutiny system. Another 20-25 officials are also to be inducted.

Earlier minister of state for education Sukanta Majumdar told the Rajya Sabha on July 22 that 15 of NTA’s 39 permanent posts were vacant.

Between May 17 and July 25, the agency advertised 16 posts, including chief technology officer, chief financial officer and general manager (HR), besides launching a recruitment drive for 16 young professionals.