Indian Government Reshuffles Senior Officials' Portfolios

The central government on Friday reshuffled the portfolios of several senior officials. Mandeep K Bhandari has been appointed as the new chairperson of the CBSE. As per the order issued by the Personnel Ministry, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Bhandari. Bhandari, a 2001-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre, is currently serving as the Principal Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir. Earlier, senior IAS officer Lokhande Prashant Sitaram held the additional charge of CBSE chairperson. Sitaram was appointed as the additional secretary in the Union Home Ministry on July 2 this year and was given the additional charge of CBSE chairperson. He was made the CBSE chief on June 2. The earlier chairperson was removed from the post amid a controversy surrounding the on-screen marking system. In this reshuffle of the central government, several more senior officials have been given the new responsibility. Vipin Kumar, chairman of the Airports Authority of India, has been made the additional secretary in the rural development department. Srikant Ponnuraj, an additional IAS officer of the 2000 batch, will now be the additional director general of the hydrocarbon department.