Government removes Rajesh Kumar Chaturvedi from the post of CBSE chief

Appoints Gujarat cadre woman officer in his place

The Government has removed Rajesh Kumar Chaturvedi from the post of the chairman of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and appointed a Gujarat cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, Anita Karwal, in his place.

Chaturvedi, a 1987-batch IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre, was removed from the post in a surprise move barely after a year of his appointment as the CBSE chief for a term of five years.

Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, shifted Chaturvedi to the National Skill Development Agency (NSDA), appointing him as its director general, according to a notification issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) on Thursday.

Karwal, the new CBSE chief, is a 1988-batch Gujarat cadre lAS officer and is currently deployed as an additional secretary at the Ministry of Human Resources Development.

“Anita Karwal, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Human Resources Development as Chairperson, Central Board of Secondary Education vice R.K.Chaturvedi, IAS on his appointment as DG, NSDA,” a DoPT notification said.

The exact reason for the removal of Chaturvedi from the post of the CBSE chief was not immediately known but sources indicated that various controversies including moderation of class XII board marks and NEET question paper row prompted the Government to shift him to NSDA.

The Government was dragged into court cases both on the issue of moderation of scores and different questions sets in English and regional language papers of NEET during the term of Chaturvedi as CBSE chief.

“HRD Minister was very unhappy with the CBSE over NEET paper row,” sources added.