Post-NEET row, Deepti Gaur Mukerjee takes charge as Education Sec

Senior IAS officer Deepti Gaur Mukerjee has been appointed as the new Higher Education Secretary in a top-level bureaucratic reshuffle approved by the Centre.

Mukerjee is a 1993-batch IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, will succeed Vineet Joshi, who was appointed Secretary of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj last month.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved Mukerjee’s appointment in a partial modification of the Personnel Ministry’s July 23 order.

Her appointment comes amid the controversy over the alleged NEET paper leak.

Currently she is serving as Corporate Affairs Secretary, will be succeeded by Youth Affairs Secretary Pallavi Jain Govil.

Sunil Paliwal, Chairman of the Inland Waterways Authority of India, will replace Govil as Youth Affairs Secretary, while Sushil Kumar Lohani, Officer on Special Duty in the Cabinet Secretariat, will take over as IWAI chairman.