In the backdrop of the National Testing Agency’s (NTA) persistent struggle to keep its head afloat in a quagmire of cancellations, paper leaks, and alleged scams concerning the NEET-UG, UGC NET, and CSIR UGC NET examinations, the Ministry of Education has mandated a 1985 batch IAS officer, Mr. Pradeep Singh Kharola, to assume additional charge as the Director General of the National Testing Agency, replacing Mr. Subodh Kumar Singh (1997-batch IAS officer).
Officer Kharola was allotted the Karnataka cadre of the IAS in 1985 and has worked in various capacities during his almost four-decade-long stint with the Indian bureaucracy. He has won several accolades, including the National Award for e-governance in 2012 and the Prime Minister’s Outstanding Public Administration Award in 2013. He was appointed as the head of Air India in November 2017 and has also served as the Managing Director (MD) of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation.
IAS Pradeep Singh Kharola served as the civil aviation Secretary before getting appointed as the Chairman of the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) in 2022. Since then, he has been serving in the Organisation and now has been assigned an additional charge of the DG of the NTA till the appointment of a regular incumbent.
