Mandeep K Bhandari Appointed CBSE Chairperson After OSM Lapses

Senior IAS officer Mandeep K Bhandari has been appointed chairperson of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), filling a post that had been held on additional charge by Lokhande Prashant Sitaram.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet cleared the appointment, with the Department of Personnel and Training issuing the formal order. Bhandari will take charge of the board at a time when it is still dealing with the fallout of problems in its examination result process.

The CBSE came under heavy scrutiny after the implementation of its On-Screen Marking (OSM) system ran into trouble. Complaints from students and parents pointed to alleged mix-ups of answer sheets, technical glitches on the portal, failed payments, and delays in verification and re-evaluation. The post-result process drew particular criticism.

Bhandari is a 2001-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre, which covers Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and the Union Territories, including Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. He is currently Principal Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir.

His service record shows more than 25 years of experience, with postings at ten different places in ten positions. These include Joint Secretary, Private Secretary to a minister, Additional Chief Executive Officer, Deputy Commissioner, Additional Development Commissioner, Additional Secretary and Chief Administrative Officer.

Bhandari comes from a medical background. He holds an MBBS from Punjab University, Chandigarh, and Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, with qualifications in surgery and medicine recorded in his service profile. He is also an MBBS gold medallist.

The appointment follows the Centre's decision on June 2 to remove Rahul Singh as CBSE chairperson and Himanshu Gupta as board secretary over serious lapses in the handling of the board examination result process. A probe into the procurement of the digital evaluation system was also ordered.