Barely a month after appointing senior IAS officer Lokhande Prashant Sitaram as the full-time chairperson of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), the Centre on Thursday modified the arrangement, assigning him only the “additional charge” of the post, while he continues as additional secretary in the Union home ministry.
Senior IAS officer Lokhande Prashant Sitaram was appointed as the full-time chairperson of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)
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An order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training’s (DoPT) Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on July 2 said Lokhande, an IAS officer of the 2001 AGMUT cadre serving as additional secretary in the Department of Home under the Union home ministry, will hold the additional charge “until appointment of regular incumbent to the post or until further orders, whichever is earlier.”
Lokhande has been serving as additional secretary in the home ministry since April 1, 2026.
Departure from earlier notification
The latest order marks a departure from the ACC’s June 2 notification, which had approved Lokhande’s appointment as “Chairperson, CBSE” in the rank and pay of additional secretary. Unlike Thursday’s notification, the earlier order was a regular appointment and did not describe the CBSE assignment as an additional-charge arrangement.
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The change comes a month after the Centre carried out a sweeping overhaul of CBSE’s top leadership amid the controversy surrounding the board’s On-Screen Marking (OSM) system.
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The change comes a month after the Centre carried out a sweeping overhaul of CBSE’s top leadership amid the controversy surrounding the board’s On-Screen Marking (OSM) system.
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On June 2, the government transferred then CBSE chairperson Rahul Singh to the agriculture ministry, prematurely repatriated secretary Himanshu Gupta to his parent cadre, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), appointed Lokhande as the new CBSE chief and named Varun Bhardwaj as secretary.
On June 2, the government also ordered a one-member inquiry headed by former Union secretary S. Radha Chauhan to examine the procurement of services related to the OSM system following allegations of irregularities in the digital evaluation process.
The July 2 order indicates that Lokhande will now oversee CBSE only as an interim arrangement while continuing with his responsibilities in the Ministry of Home Affairs, pending the appointment of a regular chairperson.
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The leadership change at CBSE followed the controversy over the board’s On-Screen Marking (OSM) system after Hindustan Times reported complaints from examiners and officials alleging irregularities in the digital evaluation process, including unexplained changes in marks, technical glitches and concerns over the procurement of the system.
Sanjay Maurya is a Principal Correspondent with Hindustan Times, where he covers education, with a focus on school and higher education, competitive examinations, education policy and governance. Working as part of the National Bureau, he is based in New Delhi and reports on the Ministry of Education and covers various statutory bodies like UGC, AICTE and NCTE and autonomous bodies like CBSE and NCERT. His reporting also tracks the implementation of key government reforms and policies from school education to higher education including in IITs, NITs, IIMs, central and state universities, and their impact on students and educational institutions. His reporting on the irregularities and rushed implementation of CBSE's On-Screen Marking (OSM) system for evaluation of Class 12 board exams 2026, triggered administrative action, leading to the transfer of the board's two senior-most officials and the constitution of a committee to probe alleged irregularities in procurement process of the system. He joined Hindustan Times in December 2024. Prior to that, he had a three-year stint at Careers360, where he reported on school and higher education, entrance examinations, admissions, rankings and various education policies involving universities and professional education bodies. Over the years, Maurya has reported extensively on major developments in India's education sector, including the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, reforms in the National Testing Agency (NTA) following the NEET-UG 2024 controversy, changes in school education, higher education regulation, and the evolution of entrance examinations such as NEET, JEE and CUET. He regularly produces data-driven and explanatory stories based on government documents, parliamentary proceedings, court records and official data. His focus remains on helping readers understand how education policies and institutional decisions affect millions of students, teachers and educational institutions across the country.
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