Governor C P Radhakrishnan appointed former State Information Commissioner Rahul Pande of Nagpur as State’s Chief Information Commissioner. Maharashtra Government had recommended the name of Rahul Pande for the said post to Governor. After the end of tenure of former Chief Secretaries Ratnakar Gaikwad and Sumit Mullick as Chief Information Commissioner the post became vacant. Rahul Pande is a former journalist who worked as City Editor of ‘The Hitavada’ at Nagpur. Similarly, Governor appointed Gajanan Nimdeo, the Chief Editor of Marathi Daily ‘Tarun Bharat’ and Additional Tribal C o m m i s s i o n e r Ravindra

 

Thakare, both from Nagpur as State Information Commissioners (SIC). Governor also appointed Prakash Indalkar as SIC. Some people had applied for the post of Chief Information Commissioner but Government found only Rahul Pande as an eligible candidate in terms of experience of administration, governance (he completed full threeyear term of State Information Commissioner), he worked as journalist, also he is Post Graduate in Law. Rahul Pande is one of theyoungest StateI n f o r m a t i o nC o m m i s s i o n e r s(Maharashtra). Afterappointment as theState InformationC o m m i s s i o n e r(Maharashtra) inSeptember 2021, Pande broughtvibrancy in the functioning of Information Commission atNagpur to bring down the pendency. Within two weeks, he wasasked to handle Amravati benchas well and discharged the dutyfor around a month. He was given additional responsibility of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar bench whose jurisdiction is over all districts of Marathwada region.

 

As SIC he disposed of more than 26,000 cases at Nagpur, Amravati and Sambhaji Nagar. He took stern action against certain undesirable elements who are misusing RTI provisions to extort or blackmail. “During my previous stint as the City Editor of ‘The Hitavada’ at its flagship Nagpur edition and my long stint as a successful journalist working in Central India’s largest and oldest English Newspaper, I handled very critical responsibilities expected from a senior journalist heading the reporting team with great distinction and to the great satisfaction of the management. I am a well connected individual with good communication skills and comprehension of legal, social, economic, political, developmental issues,” said Rahul Pande. Gajanan Nimdeo, who came from a small town Mehkar in Buldhana district, established himself in Nagpur as journalist in last 34 years. He received prestigious 7 awards, including the Late Shaktikumar Sancheti Memorial Award from the Buldhana District Citizens’ Board working in Nagpur, the Mahatma Gandhi Addiction De-Addiction Service Award from the Maharashtra Government, the Appasaheb Padalkar Memorial Journalism Award from the Senior Citizens' Corporation Vidarbha, the Satyajit Gaurav Award from Mehkar in Buldhana district, and the late Anil Kumar Journalism Award. He provided free guidance for competitive examinations, thousands of students have benefited from it.

 

He has written seven books for MPSC examinations. Ravindra Thakare worked as Additional Divisional Commissioner, Additional charge of Project Director of Vidarbha Marathwada Dairy Development Board, Additional Municipal Commissioner, District Collector of Nagpur, Additional Tribal Commissioner. Ravindra Thakare is known for his contribution during coronavirus pandemic when he was District Collector. As a Tribal Commissioner Thakare played a major role in introducing several initiatives helpful for tribal population especially tribal children.