Higher Education Secretary Vineet Joshi has been shifted to the Ministry of Panchayati Raj as part of the Centre's latest secretary-level bureaucratic reshuffle, amid the ongoing controversy over alleged irregularities in competitive examinations, including the NEET paper leak, PTI reported.Naresh Pal Gangwar has been appointed the new Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, succeeding Joshi. Gangwar, a 1994-batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, was serving as Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying before his new appointment.According to an order issued by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), Joshi, a 1992-batch IAS officer of the Manipur cadre, has been appointed Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj. He will take over from Vivek Bharadwaj, who is set to retire on July 31.The reshuffle comes as the Ministry of Education faces sustained scrutiny over alleged paper leaks and irregularities in competitive examinations. The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has been spearheading protests at Delhi's Jantar Mantar, demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and reforms to the examination system.The ACC order also announced several other secretary-level appointments across the government, including K. Srinivas as Secretary, Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), Piyush Goyal as Secretary General of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), and T. K. Anil Kumar as Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education.The appointments take immediate effect, according to the ACC order.