B. D. Pande

Bhairab Dutt Pande
Governor of West Bengal
In office 12 September 1981 – 10 October 1983
Chief Minister	Jyoti Basu
Preceded by	Tribhuvan Narain Singh
Succeeded by	Anant Sharma
Cabinet Secretary of India
In office 2 November 1972 – 31 March 1977
Prime Minister	Indira Gandhi
Preceded by	T. Swaminathan
Succeeded by	N. K. Mukarji
Personal details
Born	17 March 1917 Almora district, Uttarakhand, British India
Died	4 April 2009(2009-04-04) (aged 92)^[citation needed] Almora^[citation needed]
Spouse	Vimla
Children	3
Occupation	Indian Civil Service
Known for	Civil Service
Awards	Padma Vibhushan, Padma Shri

Bhairab Dutt Pande (17 March 1917 – 2009)^[1] was a member of the Indian Civil Service and Union Cabinet Secretary of the Government of India under Indira Gandhi. He served as the Governor of West Bengal (1981–1983), and Punjab (1983–1984), and the Administrator of Chandigarh for a brief period.^[2][3][4]

Born in Almora, in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, Pande served as a Cabinet Secretary to the Union Government from 2 November 1972 to 31 March 1977.^[5] When President's rule was imposed on Punjab, he served as the governor of the state.^[6]

Pande was married to Vimla Pande.^[7] They had three children: Arvind Pande, IAS,^[8] environmentalist Lalit Pande, and Ratna Pande. His brother-in-laws were Vinod Chandra Pande, a former governor and Union Cabinet Secretary and Govind Chandra Pande a Padmi Shri and noted scholar and historian.^[7]

He was one of the last living members of the Imperial Civil Service, having entered in the 1939 batch.^[9]

The Government of India awarded Pande the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 1972, for his contributions to Indian society^[10] and the Padma Vibhushan in 2000.

He is author of his famous autobiography book released after 5 years of his demise as per his wish name “In the Service of Free India” Memoir of a civil servant , by B D Pande , ^[11]

References

1. Singh, Jupinderjit (23 September 2022). "False narrative built before Operation Bluestar: Ex-Punjab governor BD Pande". The Tribune. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
2. Administrators Chandigarh Official website.
3. Governors 1947-
4. "Pande takes top post for two years". Telegraph. 11 September 2002. Archived from the original on 18 November 2002. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
5. "Cabinet Secretariat - Cabinet Secretaries Since 1950". Government of India. 2015. Archived from the original on 10 March 2010. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
6. "Daunting task before Punjab Governor B.D. Pande and his advisors". India Today. 17 July 2013. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
7. "Grace without measure". Indian Express. 1 November 2006. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
8. "Stocks". Bloomberg News.
9. The London Gazette, 17 October 1939
10. "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 October 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
11. Pande, B. D. (1 January 2021). In The Service of Free India : Memoir of A Civil Servant. Speaking Tiger. ISBN 978-93-5447-152-0.