Days after being named Higher Education Secretary, Naresh Pal Gangwar replaced

On Monday, the government replaced Naresh Pal Gangwar as the Higher Education Secretary, appointing Deepti Gaur Mukerjee from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. This change occurred after Gangwar's predecessor, Vineet Joshi, was transferred to the Ministry of Panchayati Raj. Mukerjee, a 1993-batch IAS officer from Madhya Pradesh, was previously serving as the Corporate Affairs Secretary.

The government had originally appointed Gangwar as the new Higher Education Secretary following Joshi's transfer, in response to student protests over NEET paper leaks. However, Gangwar was unable to take on his new role as Joshi remained in his position. He was later reassigned to the Secretary of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying.

Mukerjee's appointment also involved other transfers, including V K Kantha Rao being appointed as OSD in the Department of Official Language, MHA, and Archana Varma succeeding Rao as Water Resources Secretary.