CBSE gets new chief, third chairperson in 4 months amid OSM row

The Centre on Friday appointed senior IAS officer Mandeep K Bhandari as chairperson of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), making him the third officer to head the board in less than four months following the controversy over its On-Screen Marking (OSM) system.

An order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved Bhandari’s appointment as CBSE chairperson in the rank and pay of additional secretary to the Government of India by temporarily upgrading the post.

Bhandari, a 2001-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre, was serving as principal secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir. He also held additional charge as chief executive officer of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board. He was appointed principal secretary to the Lieutenant Governor on March 6, 2023.

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A medical graduate (MBBS), Bhandari spent nearly a decade, from 2009 to 2018, as additional chief executive officer of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board. In January 2018, he moved to the Union government as private secretary to the Union minister in charge of higher education in the then Ministry of Human Resource Development.

He was appointed joint secretary in the Union health ministry in September 2018 and served there until January 2023.

Bhandari’s appointment comes 85 days after the ACC’s July 2 order assigned Lokhande Prashant Sitaram additional charge of the CBSE chairperson’s post while he continued as additional secretary in the Union home ministry.

The July 2 order had said, “Lokhande, a 2001-batch AGMUT cadre IAS officer serving as additional secretary in the home ministry since April 1, would hold the additional charge of the CBSE post until appointment of regular incumbent to the post or until further orders, whichever is earlier.”

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Friday’s order appointing Bhandari as chairperson effectively brings that interim arrangement to an end.

Lokhande had himself been appointed CBSE chairperson on June 2, replacing then chairperson Rahul Singh, who was transferred to the agriculture ministry. The June 2 order approved Lokhande’s appointment as “Chairperson, Central Board of Secondary Education” in the rank and pay of additional secretary. A month later, he was appointed additional secretary in the Union home ministry while retaining additional charge of CBSE.

On June 2, the government also prematurely repatriated CBSE secretary Himanshu Gupta to his parent cadre, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and appointed Varun Bhardwaj as secretary.

The changes came amid the OSM controversy. The government ordered a one-member inquiry headed by former Union secretary S Radha Chauhan into the procurement of services related to the system following allegations of irregularities in the digital evaluation process.

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HT had reported complaints from examiners and officials alleging unexplained changes in marks due to poor scanning of Class 12 answer sheets, technical glitches and concerns over procurement of the OSM system for the 2026 board examinations.