Can CBSE skip parliamentary panel queries? Ministry, Opposition spar over accountability

3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jul 2, 2026 06:37 PM IST

A protest against the CBSE Class 12 On-Screen Marking (OSM) controversy at the CBSE Headquarters, Patparganj, in New Delhi. (Express Photo by Amit Mehra)

A major row erupted Thursday during a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), headed by Congress MP K C Venugopal, over questions posed to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Chairperson Lokhande Prashant Sitaram regarding the conduct of recent examinations and the widespread issues faced by students across the country.

The scheduled agenda for Thursday’s meeting of the parliamentary panel was a briefing followed by oral evidence from representatives of the Ministry of Education, the Department of School Education and Literacy, and the Department of Higher Education on the ‘Review of implementation of centrally sponsored welfare schemes’.

#WATCH | Delhi | Chairman of the committee, Congress MP KC Venugopal says, “Today, we discussed the centrally sponsored welfare schemes of the Education Department. One of the observations made by the committee was regarding the audit of the Education Department. The last audit… https://t.co/ZX9koGC2Ku pic.twitter.com/YfoPHHvgNS

— ANI (@ANI) July 2, 2026

However, before any member could query the CBSE chief, Secretary of the Ministry of Education Vineet Joshi is learnt to have told the committee that the CBSE chairperson is not bound to answer questions, as the body is not funded by the Centre, The Indian Express has learnt.

This objection triggered animated responses from several Opposition members on the committee. PAC Chairperson Venugopal strongly pushed back, stating that the committee functions as a mini-Parliament. He argued that if the Parliament of India has the authority to question the CBSE, the PAC inherently holds the same oversight powers. Venugopal added that issues related to the board are of immense public importance, directly affecting millions of students, and must be addressed by the board’s leadership.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Kalyan Banerjee backed Venugopal’s stance, emphasising that education is a fundamental right. He maintained that crucial accountability questions regarding students’ welfare cannot be sidestepped through technical loopholes.

Joshi informed the committee that they would seek the Ministry of Law’s opinion regarding the questions posed by the committee and its members to the CBSE chairperson.

BJP members support bureaucrat’s claim

Several BJP members reportedly supported the bureaucrat’s claim that the CBSE chairperson cannot answer questions at the committee meeting. They said the committee pertains to financial matters, and since the CBSE is not funded by the government, it is not obligated to respond to inquiries from the committee or its chairperson.

This was the second high-profile confrontation at the parliamentary panel recently. Last week, the Venugopal-led committee held an intense discussion on the multi-crore Great Nicobar Island (GNI) project, during which the chairperson and several Opposition members raised serious concerns over the mega project’s potential impact on the island’s fragile ecology.

Asad Rehman is with the national bureau of The Indian Express and covers politics and policy focusing on religious minorities in India. A journalist for over eight years, Rehman moved to this role after covering Uttar Pradesh for five years for The Indian Express.

During his time in Uttar Pradesh, he covered politics, crime, health, and human rights among other issues. He did extensive ground reports and covered the protests against the new citizenship law during which many were killed in the state.

During the Covid pandemic, he did extensive ground reporting on the migration of workers from the metropolitan cities to villages in Uttar Pradesh. He has also covered some landmark litigations, including the Babri Masjid-Ram temple case and the ongoing Gyanvapi-Kashi Vishwanath temple dispute.

Prior to that, he worked on The Indian Express national desk for three years where he was a copy editor.

Rehman studied at La Martiniere, Lucknow and then went on to do a bachelor's degree in History from Ramjas College, Delhi University. He also has a Masters degree from the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia. ... Read More

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CBSE

CBSE board exams

Central Board of Secondary Education

Public Accounts Committee