Lokhande Prashant Sitaram Appointed Additional Secretary in Home Ministry, Retains CBSE Charge
CBSE Chairperson Lokhande Prashant Sitaram has been named Additional Secretary in the Home Ministry, holding both posts together.
Lokhande Prashant Sitaram, Chairperson of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) under the Ministry of Education, has been appointed Additional Secretary in the Department of Home, Ministry of Home Affairs, while continuing to hold additional charge of the CBSE chairpersonship.
The Department of Home within the Home Ministry handles core internal-security coordination, Union Territory administration matters and centre-state liaison on law and order, making the Additional Secretary's post one of the ministry's key policy-coordination roles.
Sitaram is a 2001-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre, a cadre that services Delhi and the Union Territories and typically produces officers with experience straddling both local administration and central deputation, a background that maps onto the coordination demands of the Home Ministry post.
He continues to head the CBSE, the board responsible for conducting board examinations and prescribing curricula for tens of thousands of affiliated schools across the country and abroad, a role he will now run in parallel with his new central assignment.
Holding both charges simultaneously is not unusual for AGMUT-cadre officers moving between education administration and core ministry postings, but it does concentrate two demanding portfolios under one officer for the duration of the dual charge.
The Home Ministry's Additional Secretary-rank officers are typically assigned specific verticals, from centre-state relations to internal security, and Sitaram's exact portfolio within the department will determine the day-to-day weight of the new role.
The appointment takes effect immediately, according to the order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training.
