Just a month after senior IAS officer Lokhande Prashant Sitaram was appointed as full-time chief of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), the Center on Thursday revised the arrangement, assigning him only “additional charge” for the post, while he continued as additional secretary in the Union Home Ministry.
An order issued by the Appointments Committee of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) of the Cabinet Office (ACC) on July 2 said that Lokhande, a 2001-batch AGMUT cadre IAS officer working as Additional Secretary in the Home Ministry under the Union Home Ministry, will retain the additional charge “until the regular incumbent is appointed to the post or until further orders, whichever is earlier”.
Lokhande has been serving as Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs since April 1, 2026.
The latest order marks a departure from the notification issued by the ACC on June 2, which approved the appointment of Lokhande as ‘Chairman of CBSE’ with the rank and pay of Additional Secretary. Unlike Thursday’s notice, the earlier order was a regular appointment and did not describe the CBSE assignment as an additional fee arrangement.
The change comes a month after the Center overhauled the CBSE top leadership amid the controversy over the board’s on-screen marking (OSM) system.
On June 2, the government transferred then CBSE chief Rahul Singh to the agriculture ministry, prematurely brought back secretary Himanshu Gupta to his parent cadre, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), appointed Lokhande as the new CBSE chief and appointed Varun Bhardwaj as secretary.
On June 2, the government also ordered a single-member inquiry headed by former union secretary S. Radha Chauhan to examine the procurement of OSM-related services after allegations of irregularities in the digital evaluation process.
The order issued on July 2 indicates that Lokhande will now supervise CBSE only as an interim arrangement while continuing with his responsibilities in the Ministry of Home Affairs, pending appointment of a regular head.
The leadership change at CBSE came in the wake of 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 assessment process, including unwarranted changes in marks, technical glitches and concerns over procurement of the system.
