NEW DELHI: As protests against the NEET paper "leak" flared up, the Centre on Thursday shifted Higher Education Secretary Vineet Joshi to the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and appointed new officials to top positions in both the school education and higher education departments.

Joshi was also holding the charge of school education secretary after Sanjay Kumar retired from the post on June 30. He was also the acting chairperson of the University Grants Commission (UGC).

According to officials, Joshi will now be posted as the secretary in the Ministry of Panchayati Raj.

While Naresh Kumar Gangwar has been appointed as the higher education secretary, TK Anil Kumar has been brought in as the school education secretary.

Gangwar was posted as the secretary in the Ministry of Animal Husbandry, while Kumar was the additional secretary in the Ministry of Rural Development.

The Ministry of Education has been at the centre of a controversy due to the alleged NEET paper leak and irregularities in the CBSE's evaluation of board exams.

Joshi has previously served as the director general of the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the chairman of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). He was appointed as the chief secretary in Manipur after the situation in the wake of an ethnic conflict escalated in the northeastern state in 2023.

The opposition has been demanding a discussion on the NEET paper-leak issue in Parliament and seeking Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation over the handling of the controversy.