Centre reshuffles top officials amid NEET protest; new Higher Education Secretary appointed

NEW DELHI: The Centre has reshuffled senior bureaucrats amid the intensifying student protests led by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) over the alleged NEET examination irregularities. Union Higher Education Secretary Vineet Joshi has been transferred and Naresh Pal Gangwar has been appointed as the new Higher Education Secretary. Joshi has been moved to the Ministry of Panchayati Raj.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), which met on Thursday, approved Gangwar's appointment. A 1994-batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, Gangwar was serving as Secretary of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying before taking up his new role.

Meanwhile, T.K. Anil Kumar, an IAS officer of the Karnataka cadre, has been appointed as the new School Education Secretary. He will fill the vacancy created following the retirement of the previous secretary.