Appointments
1. Raghav Chadha Appointed Rajya Sabha Petitions Committee Chairman
Raghav Chadha has been officially nominated as the Chairman of the reconstituted Committee on Petitions by Rajya Sabha Chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan. Effective May 20, 2026, he will lead the 10-member parliamentary standing panel responsible for examining public grievances and legislative matters.
2. Five New Supreme Court Judges Appointed
Justices Sheel Nagu, Shree Chandrashekhar, Sanjeev Sachdeva, Arun Palli, and Senior Advocate V. Mohana have been appointed as Supreme Court Judges under Article 124(2) following the Collegium’s recommendation. This raises the active bench strength to 37, with V. Mohana becoming only the second woman in history to be directly elevated from the Bar to the apex court.
3. Prashant Lokhande Named CBSE Chairperson
Prashant Sitaram Lokhande, a 2001-batch AGMUT cadre IAS officer, has been appointed as the Chairperson of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), taking charge on June 2, 2026. He succeeds Rahul Singh, while Varun Bhardwaj, a 2008-batch IIS officer, joins as Secretary to succeed Himanshu Gupta amid governance updates for the digital On-Screen Marking system.
4. Vipul Appointed Ambassador to Saudi Arabia
Vipul, a 1998-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, has been officially designated as India’s next Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, taking charge in June 2026. He transitions from his previous posting as India’s Ambassador to Qatar to oversee bilateral strategic, defense, and energy cooperation in the Gulf region.
5. New Executive Director for the World Bank
Neelkanth Mishra has been cleared by the Central Government for a three-year term as the Executive Director of the World Bank in Washington, D.C., beginning June 2026. Concurrently serving as the Chief Economist at Axis Bank, he succeeds Parameswaran Iyer to represent the South Asian constituency comprising India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka.
6. Saurabh Vijay Named CEO of IndiaAI Mission
Saurabh Vijay, a 1998-batch Maharashtra cadre IAS officer and current CEO of the UIDAI, has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of the IndiaAI Mission. He will lead the ₹10,372 crore flagship technology initiative alongside MeitY Joint Secretary Sudeep Shrivastava, who assumes charge as the Mission’s Chief Operating Officer.
7. National Statistical Commission Restructured
The government has appointed former IIM Calcutta Director Dr. Saibal Chattopadhyay as the new Chairperson of the National Statistical Commission (NSC). He is joined by three new part-time members: Prof. Shubhabrata Das (IIM Bangalore), retired ISS officer Satyendra Bahadur Singh, and Dr. Madhavan Mukund (Director, Chennai Mathematical Institute).
8. Hitesh Joshi Appointed CMD of GIC Re
The government has appointed Hitesh Joshi as the new Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC Re). Joshi, who had been serving in an interim capacity since October 2025 following the retirement of N. Ramaswamy, will lead the state-owned reinsurer until his superannuation in September 2028.
9. Vivek Aggarwal Appointed FATF Vice President
Vivek Aggarwal, a senior Indian bureaucrat, has been appointed as the Vice President of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), making him the first Indian to hold this prestigious global position. Aggarwal, who has extensive experience in anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) frameworks, will help steer the international financial watchdog’s strategic policies and compliance evaluations.
10. Bimal Patel Elected Judge of ITLOS
Indian jurist Dr. Bimal N. Patel, Vice-Chancellor of Rashtriya Raksha University and member of the UN International Law Commission, has been elected as a Judge of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). He secured 115 out of 168 valid votes at the UN Headquarters to serve a nine-year term (2026–2035) on the Hamburg-based global maritime court.
11. Reappointment of Solicitor General of India
Senior Advocate Tushar Mehta has been reappointed as the Solicitor General of India (SGI) by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC). He secured a fresh three-year extension, effective from July 1, 2026, to continue serving as the second-highest law officer of the Union government representing the Centre in the Supreme Court.
