The centre in a big move reshuffled senior bureaucrats following a clearance by the Appointments committe of the cabinet on a series of Secretary level appointments, transfers and in situ promotions across key ministeries.
One among such was rhe the replacement of the headed the Department of Higher Education. According to an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training late Thursday night, Joshi, has been appointed Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, in place of Vivek Bhardwaj, who superannuates on 31 July. IAS officer Naresh Pal Gangwar was announced as Secretary of the Department of Higher Education under the Ministry of Education, according to an official government notification on late Thursday night.
T K Anil Kumar has been brought in as the school education secretary. Joshi was also holding the charge of school education secretary after Sanjay Kumar retired from the post on June 30. He was also the acting chairperson of the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Joshi had appeared before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports on 21 May, along with NTA Director General Abhishek Singh. They told the panel, chaired by Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, that the leak did not originate from the NTA system. The agency also told maintained that the committee it would convert the NEET-UG into a computer-based test and take up limits on attempts and age with the Health Ministry.
Joshi helmed the NTA as a director till 2022. Prior to this, he chaired Central Board of Secondary Education, where he brought in Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation. He has also been serving as acting chairman of the University Grants Commission since April 2025, an arrangement questioned under Section 5(2) of the UGC Act, 1956, which keeps officers of the Union and state governments out of the post.
Joshi’ removal is marked as the first step taken by the government in response to the agitation over NEET-UG paper leak case. Ever since the CJP has come to the scene, the issue has grown bigger day by day.
The change in Education Ministry is one among the dozen appointments the secretary level cleared Thursday. Keshav Chandra has been named Secretary, Ministry of Mines, in place of Piyush Goyal, who goes to the National Human Rights Commission as Secretary General. Katikithala Srinivas moves from Housing and Urban Affairs to the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, and Chandra Bhushan Kumar takes over as Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment.
PM Modi taking to X on late Thursday promised strict actions against the paper leak.
“More strict actions against paper leaks to come in tomorrow’s Cabinet, he wrote”.