Mandeep Bhandari Appointed Chairperson of Central Board of Secondary Education
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of senior IAS officer Mandeep K. Bhandari as the new Chairperson of the Central Board of Secondary Education. Bhandari, a 2001-batch AGMUT cadre officer, takes over the role from Lokhande Prashant Sitaram, who was holding the interim charge. The post has been temporarily upgraded to the rank and pay of Additional Secretary to the Government of India.
What happened
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved the appointment of Mandeep K. Bhandari as Chairperson of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), under the Ministry of Education. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) issued the official notification. For this appointment, the post of CBSE Chairperson has been temporarily upgraded to the rank and pay of Additional Secretary to the Government of India.
Bhandari takes over from Lokhande Prashant Sitaram, who had been given additional charge as CBSE chairperson on June 2, 2026. Sitaram stepped in after the transfer of former chairperson Rahul Singh amid controversies surrounding the board's On-Screen Marking (OSM) digital evaluation system. On July 2, 2026, Sitaram was appointed Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs while continuing his interim charge at CBSE. With this development, Bhandari becomes the third officer to lead the national education board within a span of four months.
Mandeep K. Bhandari is a 2001-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram, and Union Territories) cadre. An MBBS graduate from Panjab University and Dayanand Medical College & Hospital, Bhandari brings extensive administrative experience. Prior to this posting, he served as Principal Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir since March 6, 2023. During his administrative career, he also held the additional charge of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, served as Additional CEO of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (2009–2018), and was an Additional Director on the board of Jammu and Kashmir Bank from October 2023.
Earlier in his career, Bhandari served as Private Secretary to the Union Minister in charge of Human Resource Development in January 2018 and as Joint Secretary (Drugs) in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the district level, he held key postings including Deputy Commissioner/District Magistrate of Leh and Jammu, Secretary in the Power Development Department, and Sub-Divisional Magistrate in Budgam.
The ACC notification also cleared several other senior administrative postings on the same day. These included the appointment of Vipin Kumar as Additional Secretary in the Department of Rural Development, Srikant Nagulapalli as Additional Secretary in the Department of Expenditure, V. Ponnuraj as Director General of Hydrocarbons, Sarita Chauhan Chand as Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor in the Ministry of Steel, Anand Singh as Additional Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, P. Hemalatha as Additional Secretary in DoPT, Piyush Singh as Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Power, Ankita Mishra Bundela as Additional Secretary in the Department of Higher Education, and Manisha Sensarma as Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
Important dates
| Establishment of CBSE | 1 July 1962 |
|---|---|
| Lokhande Prashant Sitaram assigned interim charge of CBSE | 2 June 2026 |
| ACC clears appointment of Mandeep K. Bhandari as CBSE Chairperson | 25 September 2026 |
| Official reporting of Mandeep Bhandari taking charge | 28 September 2026 |
📌 Static GK links
- Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) was reconstituted in its current form on 1 July 1962.
- CBSE Headquarters: New Delhi, India.
- Parent Ministry: Ministry of Education, Government of India.
- The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) is the central authority responsible for clearing senior bureaucratic and public sector leadership postings in India.
What candidates should do
- Note down Mandeep Bhandari's cadre, batch, and designation upgrade for national 'Who's Who' appointment questions in upcoming competitive exams.
- Memorize the leadership transition sequence (Rahul Singh to Lokhande Prashant Sitaram to Mandeep Bhandari) for high-difficulty Prelims questions.
- Revise static details of statutory and autonomous educational bodies such as CBSE, NCERT, and UGC, including founding years and nodal ministries.
PrepZen analysis
Appointments to major national regulatory and educational bodies are frequently tested in the General Awareness sections of Banking (IBPS, SBI, RBI), SSC CGL, and State PSC examinations. Questions typically focus on the name of the appointee, the outgoing official, the IAS cadre, or the governing ministry.
A notable detail in this appointment is the administrative upgrade: the CBSE Chairperson post was temporarily elevated to the rank and pay of Additional Secretary to the Government of India. Examiners often set multi-statement questions around such rank upgrades, succession chains, and the appointee's recent administrative background.
Practice questions
Q1. Who has been appointed as the Chairperson of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in September 2026?
Q2. Mandeep K. Bhandari, appointed as the Chairperson of CBSE, is an IAS officer of which cadre and batch?
Q3. In which year was the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) established in its present form?
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet officially cleared his appointment.
He previously served as Principal Secretary to Jammu and Kashmir's Lieutenant Governor.
He succeeds Lokhande Prashant Sitaram, who held interim charge after Rahul Singh.
🎯 Key Point: Mandeep Bhandari is appointed as new Chairperson of CBSE.
FAQs
Who is the newly appointed Chairperson of CBSE?
Mandeep K. Bhandari, a 2001-batch AGMUT cadre IAS officer, is the newly appointed Chairperson of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).
Whom did Mandeep K. Bhandari replace at CBSE?
He succeeded Lokhande Prashant Sitaram, who was holding the additional interim charge of CBSE following the transfer of Rahul Singh in June 2026.
What administrative rank was assigned to the CBSE Chairperson post for Mandeep Bhandari?
The post of CBSE Chairperson was temporarily upgraded to the rank and pay of Additional Secretary to the Government of India.
What key role did Mandeep Bhandari hold immediately prior to his CBSE appointment?
Before this appointment, he served as the Principal Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, having taken that role in March 2023.
Sources
- indiatimes.com (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
- hindustantimes.com (www.hindustantimes.com)
- newindianexpress.com (www.newindianexpress.com)
- thewire.in (m.thewire.in)
Prepared by the PrepZen Editorial Team from official releases and verified reports, for exam preparation. Spotted an error? Write to prepzen.app@gmail.com.
Practice Quiz — 28 September 2026
Q1. Who has been appointed as the new Chairperson of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)?
Q2. Which bank has appointed actor R. Madhavan as its brand ambassador alongside launching the 'Nothing Small About Us' campaign?
Q3. Consider the following statements regarding India's first LNG-powered train: 1. It was flagged off from Sabarmati Railway Station in Gujarat. 2. The train runs exclusively on LNG fuel. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Q4. Where is the 11th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) being held?
Q5. Which mountaineering institute's team summited 20 unclimbed peaks above 6,000 meters in Ladakh in just 23 days?
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