Modi rejects Smriti's choice for CBSE chief, HRD won't decide candidate

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has rejected Smriti Irani’s decision to appoint of Dr Sarvendra Vikram Bahadur Singh as the next Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) chief when she was still helming the Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry.

Irani lost her high-profile job as the head of the ministry of the human resources development to the new poster boy of the Narendra Modi Cabinet, Mr Prakash Javadekar.

According to a report in The Indian Express, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) which is led by the Prime Minister, will now decide who to appoint as the CBSE chief and has taken away the responsibility from HRD ministry.

“While considering the proposal, the competent authority in the ACC has conveyed that the post be filled under Central Staffing Scheme (CSS) by keeping the recruitment rules in abeyance,” said a letter that was sent to HRD Ministry by the the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT).

The post of the CBSE chairman has been lying vacant since December 2014 and needs to be filled by a candidate who has at least three years of experience in educational administration and has the rank of a Joint Secretary.

Dr Sarvendra Vikram Bahadur Singh was Smriti Irani’s top choice for the job and her ministry had conveyed this in a letter to the DoPT on June 15 this year.

Singh is the director of State Council of Educational Research & Training and is in the Uttar Pradesh Education Service.