In a late-night order issued Monday, the Union government appointed Deepti Gaur Mukerjee, a 1993-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, as the new Higher Education Secretary. The order came from the Department of Personnel and Training and marks a partial modification of an appointment made barely three weeks earlier.That earlier appointment belonged to Naresh Pal Gangwar, a 1994-batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre. It was placed in abeyance after sustained public criticism.
Why Gangwar’s appointment did not survive
Gangwar was serving as Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, when he was first named to head higher education. The appointment drew immediate scrutiny on social media, not for his record in that post, but for a subsidy his family received years earlier.According to TNN, three of Gangwar’s family members, his mother, wife and son, collectively received over Rs 1 crore under a National Horticulture Board (NHB) scheme for commercial cucumber cultivation. The scheme, run under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, is meant to support small and marginal farmers taking up commercial horticulture.The last tranche of the subsidy was released after Gangwar took charge as Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, a post that placed him within the same administrative ecosystem as the scheme paying out to his family. Opposition leaders seized on the appointment, with CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas calling it a farce on X, given that the government was simultaneously facing pressure over an examination paper leak controversy and questions of institutional accountability.Gangwar has denied wrongdoing, stating that no service rules were violated and that his mother and son do not qualify as dependent family members under the All India Services (Conduct) Rules.
The reshuffle, department by department
The order issued Monday night does not stop at higher education. It resets a chain of postings across five departments.
- Higher Education: Mukerjee succeeds Vineet Joshi, who was appointed last month as Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj. She was, until this appointment, serving as Corporate Affairs Secretary.
- Corporate Affairs: Pallavi Jain Govil, currently Youth Affairs Secretary, moves in as the new Corporate Affairs Secretary, taking the post Mukerjee vacates.
- Youth Affairs and Sports: Sunil Paliwal, the incumbent Chairman of the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), becomes the new Youth Affairs Secretary, replacing Govil.
- Inland Waterways Authority of India: Sushil Kumar Lohani, currently Officer on Special Duty in the Cabinet Secretariat, has been appointed Chairman, IWAI, taking the post Paliwal vacates.
- Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation: Archana Verma, an Assam-Meghalaya cadre IAS officer, has been appointed Secretary, Department of Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation, replacing V L Kantha Rao.
Each move follows the one before it. A single correction at the top of the higher education portfolio has produced five changes in personnel.Mukerjee’s appointment to higher education places her in charge of policy for universities, technical education institutions and the implementation of the National Education Policy, at a moment when the department is already under pressure to restore confidence in India’s examination system.
