CBSE debacle: Centre transfers chairman, secretary; panel to probe procurement of OSM services

NEW DELHI: Swinging into action, the government on Tuesday transferred the two top officials of the Central Board of Secondary Education's (CBSE) amid a row over the board's new On-Screen Marking (OSM) system.

An official notification stated that CBSE chairman Rahul Singh and secretary Himanshu Gupta have been transferred, while a committee has been constituted to probe the procurement of the OSM facility.




S Radha Chauhan, chairperson of the Capacity Building Commission (CBC), has been appointed as the sole member of the inquiry committee. However, she may seek assistance from other officers, if required.

"The chairperson is empowered to obtain the assistance of officers from other offices, as required. Secretarial assistance will be provided to the committee by the CBC," the notification stated.

"The committee will submit its report within a month to the Department of Personnel and Training," it added.

The government's move came on a day when CBSE activated its re-verification portal for Class 12 students. Hours later, however, the board reported a series of "cyber threats" targeting the platform.

According to CBSE, the portal received nearly 15 lakh hits within just two minutes at one point, which the board alleged was part of an attempt to deny students access to the platform. It also claimed to have detected more than one lakh attempts to gain unauthorised access to files, attributing them to "malicious actors" seeking to disrupt services.

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The portal went live a day after it was scheduled to be launched, with officials attribiuting the delay to "technical issues." The postponement had raised concerns among students and parents, especially in light of reports of glitches during the answer-sheet access process earlier this month.

CBSE had previously maintained that the platform would ensure a transparent and seamless mechanism for students seeking verification of both their marks and re-evaluation of answer books.

The rollout also came amid the board's efforts to bolster cybersecurity safeguards around the OnMark portal, operated by its Hyderabad-based service provider.