The agency further stated that despite the student himself choosing Abu Dhabi centre, it changed the centre to Nagpur following a last-minute informal request.
Amid row over the allotment of Abu Dhabi centre to a Nagpur student for the June 21 NEET re-examination, the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Saturday suggested that the student himself changed his first city preference to Abu Dhabi and second to Dubai.
“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,” the NTA said in a statement.
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The agency further stated that despite the student himself choosing Abu Dhabi centre, it changed the centre to Nagpur following a last-minute informal request.
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“Despite the Abu Dhabi centre being chosen by the candidate, the NTA received an informal request on the evening of June 19 (just 48 hours before the exam) to change the centre to Nagpur. NTA personnel immediately initiated the change and contacted the candidate’s father on the evening of June 19 itself to help them complete the formal process,” the NTA, responsible for holding the NEET exam, said.
NTA tweets – Reference the issue with regard to allotment of a centre in Abu Dhabi to a candidate in Nagpur, NTA would like to state the following:
…On the 'Abu Dhabi' query: NTA's web-activity records indicate that the city change in this case was made through the candidate's… https://t.co/dvlYNBdYPN pic.twitter.com/lcvpxsM4fy
— ANI (@ANI) June 20, 2026
According to the agency, it observed that the candidate changed the centre on 3 occasions.
“NTA has observed that on 3 occasions, one – the centre was changed to Abu Dhabi using candidate’s credentials and twice it was shown that the centre was Abu Dhabi. Despite that NTA has acceded to the aspirant’s request and the change of centre was actioned…,” it added.
The development comes after a huge row erupted just hours before the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination.
Father of NEET aspirant Abdullah Mohammad Talib claimed that his son was allotted an exam centre in an Abu Dhabi school.
Mohammad Talib said that when his son found out that his centre is in Abu Dhabi, he became stressed since he doesn’t have a passport and going to a foreign country for the exam would not be possible.
The NEET-UG examination 2026 has come under intense scrutiny after the first paper was leaked. This caused a massive uproar and nationwide protests, prompting the NTA to cancel the exam.
The agency announced a re-test on June 21 and made several arrangements to ensure smooth conduct of the examination.
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