Opposition questions CBSE transfers: Where does ministerial responsibility begin?

The Opposition has dubbed the Centre’s move to shunt out two top CBSE officials following the on-screen marking system row as a “cover-up” and like “rubbing salt on the wounds of lakhs of students”.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday (June 2) demanded that Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan be sacked and an independent judicial inquiry be ordered immediately.

Rahul also met Sarthak Sidhant, an 18-year-old student from Jharkhand affected by the CBSE’s online marking system who pointed out “irregularities” in the tendering process to select a vendor for the on-screen marking (OSM) system for Class-12 board exams.

‘Cover-up’, says Rahul

After meeting Sarthak and his family, Rahul posted pictures from the meeting and said, “Sarthak, stay firm on your principles.” Sarthak also made a presentation before a parliamentary panel on Tuesday on the alleged irregularities in the OSM tendering process.

Soon after, the government shunted out two top CBSE officials following the online marking row, Rahul termed it a “cover-up” exercise, saying while officials have been removed, the education minister has been spared.

Also read: CBSE OSM row: Whistleblower Sarthak shares how he dug up tender flaws | Exclusive

The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha demanded that Education Minister Pradhan be dismissed and an independent judicial inquiry be ordered into the matter immediately.

‘Real culprit’ safe: Rahul

In a post in Hindi on X, Rahul said that had the prime minister cared for about 18.5 lakh students who appeared in the CBSE Class-12 exam, Pradhan would have been removed long ago.

“CBSE Chairman - Transferred. CBSE Secretary - Transferred. A one-member ‘inquiry’ committee - Formed. And the real culprit, Dharmendra Pradhan - Safe.

“Officials removed. Minister spared. This isn't accountability, it's a cover-up," the former Congress chief said in his post.

“Our demand remains the same today: Dismiss the education minister and conduct an independent judicial inquiry – these aren't some one-month-old internal file of the Modi government to be brushed aside just like that.

“If the prime minister cared about the 18.5 lakh CBSE students, Dharmendra Pradhan ji would have been removed long ago,” Gandhi said.

CBSE plagued by glitches

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has been engulfed in a controversy after some Class 12 students alleged that the scanned copies of their answer sheets uploaded by the board did not match their handwriting, raising concerns over possible answer-sheet mismatch in the OSM system.

Also read: CBSE re-evaluation portal faces cyberattack, records 1.5 million hits in two minutes

The board has faced criticism over technical glitches, payment failures and delays in the verification and re-evaluation process, prompting demands for greater transparency and accountability.

Earlier in the day, CBSE Chairman Rahul Singh and Secretary Himanshu Gupta were shunted out of the national educational board in the wake of the alleged irregularities in the digital evaluation system for the Class-12 examination process.

CBSE’s new bosses

Senior bureaucrats Lokhande Prashant Sitaram and Varun Bhardwaj were on Tuesday appointed as the CBSE’s new chairperson and secretary.

Sitaram, a 2001 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram, and Union Territories or AGMUT cadre, is currently an additional secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved his appointment as the chairperson of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in place of Rahul Singh, a Personnel Ministry order said.

Singh has been appointed as additional secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

One-member panel formed

The Cabinet Secretariat on Tuesday, through a memorandum, announced the constitution of a one-member committee to inquire into matters relating to the procurement of services for the OSM system by the CBSE.

Also read: Centre transfers CBSE Chairman amid row over digital evaluation system

The committee will be chaired by S Radha Chauhan, chairperson, Capacity Building Commission, it said. Chauhan has been empowered to obtain the assistance of officials from other departments, as required, while the Capacity Building Commission will provide secretarial assistance to the panel. The committee will submit its report to the Department of Personnel and Training within one month.

Sarthak, who himself appeared in the board examination, presented a seven-page copy of his findings before the Parliamentary Committee for Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, chaired by Congress MP Digvijaya Singh.

Student and CBSE hand over reports

Sarthak’s presentation to the parliamentary panel was made in the presence of Rahul Singh, before he was shunted out of the CBSE chairmanship, and Secretary, School Education, Sanjay Kumar, along with other officials of the Ministry of Education and the board.

The CBSE also handed over a report to the panel members, presenting their side on the problems faced by students, and assured the MPs that the glitches that appeared on its portal have since been rectified and students now have time till June 6 to apply for re-evaluation of their answer sheets.

The CBSE also said later that “malicious actors” attempted to disrupt services on its re-evaluation portal through a barrage of cyberattacks, including a denial-of-service attack that caused 1.5 million hits on the platform within two minutes and more than one lakh attempts at unauthorised file access.

‘Mere eyewash’: Kharge

Following the transfers of the CBSE chairman and secretary, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said it was a “mere eyewash”, and demanded that Pradhan be immediately sacked.

“The transfer of CBSE chairman and secretary is a mere eyewash. Modi ji should immediately sack Dharmendra Pradhan. Nothing less than that would provide a sense of justice to 18.5 lakh CBSE students,” Kharge said in a post on X.

Also read: CBSE OSM row: Student alleges rule changes in tender to favour Coempt over TCS

“‘Big Breaking’ is not this whitewashing; the real news is Pradhan’s continuation despite all this!” the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha added.

Congress general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, also said the CBSE officials have been transferred, but justice requires that “Mantri Pradhan be sacked”.

“The CBSE leadership’s unceremonious exit and the constitution of the one-member committee to investigate the procurement of the CBSE’s OSM system prove that irregularities were committed,” he said on X.

Jairam Ramesh’s praise for Gen Z

“This is a testament to the ingenuity and skill of Gen Z students”, who exposed this scandal online and even brought it to the notice of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education under the chairmanship of Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday, Ramesh said.

“Today's action, clearly timed for after the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education's meeting with the CBSE, is an attempt to distract and fix accountability on bureaucrats rather than the political leadership,” Ramesh said.

It should be remembered that the CBSE chairperson was given a two-year extension by the Cabinet Committee on Appointments as recently as November 2025, he added.

Also read: CBSE OSM row: Class 12 student Sarthak Sidhant appears before Parliamentary panel

“Mantri Pradhan has been presiding over a monumentally corrupt, inept, and incompetent ecosystem that has played havoc with the lives of lakhs of youth. He needs to resign immediately,” Ramesh said.

Kejriwal: Punishment or protection?

AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal said the Centre’s message to lakhs of students and their parents was clear – Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will not be changed regardless of public outrage over alleged irregularities in the CBSE’s Class 12 board examinations.

Kejriwal said the move to shunt out the officials was like rubbing salt on the wounds of lakhs of students. “The CBSE chairman and secretary have been transferred. That’s it? Is this the government's response to such a massive scam? Is this punishment or protection? By transferring the CBSE chairman and secretary, the Modi government has rubbed salt on the wounds of lakhs of children and their parents,” Kejriwal said in a statement.

“Modi Ji has thrown down a challenge that the education minister will not be changed, no matter what people do,” he added.

“Does the education minister bear no responsibility or accountability? Does the prime minister bear no accountability? The education ministry is in incapable hands,” Kejriwal said.

(With agency inputs)