NEW DELHI: In a sweeping administrative realignment at the Center, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has cleared a dual personnel transition at the senior leadership level. The strategic executive orders reassign two veteran Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers to spearhead the nation’s premier school board and to take up a key additional command within the agricultural sector.
The notification was formally dispatched on June 2, 2026, by the Secretariat of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions (Department of Personnel and Training).
Central School Board Gets New Chief Executive
The high-level mandate installs a fresh administrative head at the helm of secondary education governance:
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Apex Assignment: Shri Lokhande Prashant Sitaram, IAS, has been appointed as the Chairperson of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) under the Ministry of Education.
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Background and Rank: Belonging to the 2001 AGMUT batch, Sitaram previously managed internal security files as Additional Secretary in the Department of Home, Ministry of Home Affairs. His new deployment maintains his status in the rank and pay of Additional Secretary.
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Transition Line: Sitaram takes over the prestigious education portfolio vice Shri Rahul Singh, IAS, who has been reassigned by the cabinet.
Outgoing CBSE Head Shifted to Agriculture Ministry
Concurrently, the central government has routed the outgoing school board chief into a vital national infrastructure role:
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Strategic Deployment: Shri Rahul Singh, IAS, has been officially positioned as the Additional Secretary in the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare under the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare.
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Cadre and Experience: Singh is a senior 1996-batch officer representing the Bihar (BH) cadre.
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Operational Impact: His reallocation to the farm ministry places an experienced senior administrator into the core leadership layer responsible for central agrarian policy and implementation.
Both establishment directives were signed and authorized under the hand of Manisha Saxena, Secretary to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet & Establishment Officer. To facilitate an immediate change of guard, administrative copies have been logged with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the Cabinet Secretariat, and the respective secretariats of the involved ministries.
