NEW DELHI — In a top-level administrative overhaul, the Union Government on Monday appointed senior bureaucrat Deepti Gaur Mukerjee as the new Higher Education Secretary.

Mukerjee, a 1993-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, was serving as the Secretary in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs prior to this appointment.

According to an order issued late Monday night by the Personnel Ministry, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved Mukerjee's posting in partial modification of its previous administrative order issued on July 23.

Mukerjee succeeds Vineet Joshi, who was moved last month to head the Ministry of Panchayati Raj as its Secretary. Earlier, Naresh Pal Gangwar, Secretary of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, had been slated for the role before the Centre modified its decision to post Mukerjee at the helm of the Higher Education Department.

Her key appointment arrives at a crucial juncture as the Ministry handles pivotal higher education reforms and addresses public scrutiny surrounding national competitive examinations, including the recent controversy over the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) paper leak.

Key Appointments Across Central Ministries

The reshuffle also triggered a series of major changes across several central government departments:

  • Ministry of Corporate Affairs: Youth Affairs Secretary Pallavi Jain Govil has been transferred to replace Mukerjee as the new Corporate Affairs Secretary.

  • Ministry of Youth Affairs: Sunil Paliwal, Chairman of the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), steps into the role of Youth Affairs Secretary, succeeding Govil.

  • Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI): Sushil Kumar Lohani, currently serving as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Cabinet Secretariat, will succeed Paliwal as Chairman of the IWAI.

  • Department of Official Language: V L Kantha Rao, Secretary of the Department of Water Resources, River Development, and Ganga Rejuvenation, has been named Officer on Special Duty in the Ministry of Home Affairs' Department of Official Language. He is slated to formally take over as Secretary following the superannuation of incumbent Ansuli Arya at the end of next month.

  • Department of Water Resources: Senior bureaucrat Archana Varma, a 1995-batch IAS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre and currently the Mission Director of the National Water Mission, will take over from Rao as Secretary of Water Resources, River Development, and Ganga Rejuvenation.