Ahmedabad Municipal School Board has appointed Pragnesh Patel as chairperson and Ankit Rathod as vice-chairperson, ending a two-month delay in filling the board’s top posts. The appointments were finalised on Wednesday at a high-level meeting chaired by Ahmedabad mayor Hitesh Barot.
The decision follows the completion of outgoing chairman Sujay Mehta’s term. The meeting brought together senior Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation leadership, including the deputy mayor, the standing committee chairperson, the leader of the ruling party, the chief whip and senior civic officials.
The civic leadership formally congratulated Patel and Rathod after their appointments. The new office-bearers will head the AMC School Board, the municipal body responsible for the board-level administration of Ahmedabad’s civic school system.
The state government has also nominated Ahmedabad City district education officer Rohit Chaudhari as a government member of the board. Chirag Solanki and Bhavanisinhe Shekhawat have been appointed as non-government members.
The board’s other members are Navin Patel, Nilay Shukla, Liladhar Khadke, Parth Trivedi, Niki Shah, Chandradeepsinh Vaghela, Nita Prajapati, Amrut Vyas, Nandini Pandya and Sonal Patel. Their inclusion completes the list of members identified in the appointment report.
The two-month gap between the end of the previous chairperson’s term and the appointment of the new office-bearers had left the leadership transition pending. Wednesday’s meeting formally concluded that process, with the mayor and senior civic officials participating in the decision.
The appointment places the chairperson and vice-chairperson at the centre of the board’s next phase of functioning. However, the report does not specify the tenure of the new office-bearers, the issues awaiting their consideration or any immediate education or infrastructure decisions before the board. The next steps will depend on the board’s formal proceedings and the agenda placed before its newly appointed leadership.
