Times of India: Friday, March 15, 2024.
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Retired IPS officer Makarand Ranade has taken charge as the new information commissioner for Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. The post was vacant for almost two years. The Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar bench of the State Information Commission (SIC) has jurisdiction over eight Marathwada districts. Till Jan, the bench had a pendency of over 10,756 second appeals under the RTI Act, 2005.
Ranade, who assumed office on March 11 after taking a formal oath at Raj Bhavan on March 7, will face a stiff challenge in reducing the pendency. In a statement issued on Wednesday, Ranade promised to make efforts to achieve zero pendency of the second appeals under the
“I am committed to a maximum people-centric administration during my tenure as the information commissioner,” he said.
Notably, the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar bench has thirdhighest pendency among eight different benches of the SIC. As per the official data, the Nashik bench has the highest pendency of 13,878 second appeals, followed by the Amravati bench with 12,346 second appeals. If the response of the appellate authority of a govt establishment to a first appeal is not received within 90 days of submission, or if the applicant is not satisfied with the said response, then a second appeal is filed with the further appeals can be made under the RTI Act. Ranade, who hails from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, studied at the Shivaji High School in Gulmandi and passed his Class XII from the Saraswati Bhuvan Education Society. After his M.Com from the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, he joined the police services. He retired as the chief of the crime investigation department (CID), Maharashtra, on March 31, 2022.
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