Senior IAS officer Mandeep K Bhandari has been appointed chairperson of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), nearly four months after the board saw a change in leadership amid the controversy surrounding its On-Screen Marking (OSM) system.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved Bhandari's appointment on September 25. The post has been temporarily upgraded to the rank and pay of an Additional Secretary to the Government of India. Bhandari will replace Lokhande Prashant Sitaram, who had been holding additional charge of the CBSE chairperson's post.
Bhandari is a 2001-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre and 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.
A medical graduate with an MBBS degree, Bhandari has held several administrative positions in Jammu and Kashmir and at the Centre. His earlier assignments include Deputy Commissioner of Leh and Jammu, Divisional Commissioner of Jammu, CEO of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board and Joint Secretary in the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. He also served as Private Secretary to the Union Human Resource Development Minister in 2018.
Third CBSE chief in four months
Bhandari is the third officer to head CBSE since June.
The Centre transferred Rahul Singh from the chairperson's post on June 2 and ordered an inquiry into the procurement of services for the board's OSM system. Lokhande Prashant Sitaram was subsequently given charge of the board. He was later appointed Additional Secretary in the Union Home Ministry while continuing to hold the additional CBSE charge.
The leadership change comes as CBSE prepares for the 2026-27 board examinations and continues to deal with issues surrounding the implementation of its digital evaluation system. Students had reported problems including portal glitches, difficulties accessing evaluated answer sheets and, in some cases, missing or incorrect pages in answer-book copies.
Bhandari will now take charge of the board's examination, affiliation, curriculum and other administrative functions as CBSE moves into the next academic and examination cycle.