Joshi8217;s candidate rejected for CBSE post

NEW DELHI, OCT 22: Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi may have pushed through the appointments of loyalists M L Sond...

NEW DELHI, OCT 22: Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi may have pushed through the appointments of loyalists M L Sondhi and B R Grover to the Indian Council of Social Science Research ICSSR and the Indian Council for Historical Research ICHR on the first day of office, but his efforts to make his own man the chairman of the Central Board of Secondary Education CBSE have come up against a brick wall.

The Department of Personnel and Training DoPT has rejected Joshi8217;s candidate, B Ganguly, for the job. A director of school education with the Department of Education, Uttar Pradesh, Ganguly was selected from a panel which included N Balasubramaniam, Director, Academics, CBSE. Ganguly, according to the DoPT, does not have the requisite three years of experience at conducting examinations.

But Joshi has sent back his name to the Prime Minister8217;s Office with a note that Ganguly is a 8220;deserving candidate8221;, regardless of the technicalities, and should be appointed. Ganguly was selectedby a panel headed by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan director and former secretary, HRD, J Veeraraghavan. Ganguly has been an associate of Khandelwal since his days in the Uttar Pradesh Education Service.

Khandelwal, who is now on his third extension, was appointed chairman of the second-oldest board which has over 4,500 schools affiliated to it and is a former student of Joshi at Allahabad University. He has been CBSE chairman since 1994, a fact Joshi has cited as evidence that Khandelwal is not 8220;his8221; man, and has been holding additional charge as director of the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration since January this year.

Joshi is also said to have sent to the PMO his nominee for the National Council of Teachers8217; Education, N Maheshwari, who is currently on a month8217;s extension as Joint Director of National Council of Educational Research and Training NCERT. But his candidate to replace Maheshwari, R K Dikshit, was reportedly rejected for being 8220;too junior8221;.