IAS officer Mandeep Bhandari appointed chairperson of CBSE

Mandeep Bhandari, a 2001-batch IAS officer, has been appointed chairperson of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), as per a notification issued by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on Friday (September 25, 2026).

Mr. Bhandari, an officer belonging to the AGMUT cadre, has held key leadership and administrative roles across Jammu & Kashmir and Central government departments. He holds an MBBS degree and has previously served as Joint Secretary (Drugs) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Mr. Bhandari’s appointment to the CBSE comes at a crucial time when the board finds itself embroiled in a controversy over the implementation of the onscreen marking (OSM) system for Class 12 board exams earlier this year. The CBSE’s IT system also came under scrutiny when ethical hackers accessed sensitive student data information by breaching its web portals.

Before being appointed as the CBSE chairperson, Mr. Bhandari was principal secretary to the Lt. Governor of J&K and served at the Governor’s Office in Jammu since March 2023. He also held the additional charge of chief executive officer for the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board while serving in J&K.

In October 2023, he was also appointed as an additional director on the board of Jammu and Kashmir Bank. Earlier, he served an extended tenure of over eight years managing shrine operations in Katra, Jammu, as additional CEO of the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board.

Mr. Bhandari has also been the private secretary to the Minister of Human Resource Development, as well as deputy commissioner and district magistrate in Leh and Jammu. He has also served as a secretary in the Power Development Department and the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) in Budgam.