Centre revises CBSE chief’s appointment, assigns extra cost
Barely a month after appointing senior IAS officer Lokhande Prashant Sitaram because the full-time chairperson of the Central Board of Secondary Training (CBSE), the Centre on Thursday modified the association, assigning him solely the “extra cost” of the publish, whereas he continues as extra secretary within the Union house ministry.
An order issued by the Division of Personnel and Coaching’s (DoPT) Appointments Committee of the Cupboard (ACC) on July 2 mentioned Lokhande, an IAS officer of the 2001 AGMUT cadre serving as extra secretary within the Division of Residence beneath the Union house ministry, will maintain the extra cost “till appointment of standard incumbent to the publish or till additional orders, whichever is earlier.”
Lokhande has been serving as extra secretary within the house ministry since April 1, 2026.
The most recent order marks a departure from the ACC’s June 2 notification, which had authorized Lokhande’s appointment as “Chairperson, CBSE” within the rank and pay of extra secretary. In contrast to Thursday’s notification, the sooner order was an everyday appointment and didn’t describe the CBSE task as an additional-charge association.
The change comes a month after the Centre carried out a sweeping overhaul of CBSE’s high management amid the controversy surrounding the board’s On-Display Marking (OSM) system.
On June 2, the federal government transferred then CBSE chairperson Rahul Singh to the agriculture ministry, prematurely repatriated secretary Himanshu Gupta to his dad or mum cadre, the Ministry of Residence Affairs (MHA), appointed Lokhande as the brand new CBSE chief and named Varun Bhardwaj as secretary.
On June 2, the federal government additionally ordered a one-member inquiry headed by former Union secretary S. Radha Chauhan to look at the procurement of companies associated to the OSM system following allegations of irregularities within the digital analysis course of.
The July 2 order signifies that Lokhande will now oversee CBSE solely as an interim association whereas persevering with together with his obligations within the Ministry of Residence Affairs, pending the appointment of an everyday chairperson.
The management change at CBSE adopted the controversy over the board’s On-Display Marking (OSM) system after Hindustan Instances reported complaints from examiners and officers alleging irregularities within the digital analysis course of, together with unexplained adjustments in marks, technical glitches and issues over the procurement of the system.
