His Excellency Shri Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare,
Governor of Odisha

Leading legal luminary Shri Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare took over as the Governor of Odisha. He succeeded Shri Rameshwar Thakur who was appointed as Governor of Karnataka. Shri Bhandare took oath of office at Raj Bhavan in Bhubaneswar on August 21, 2007.

He was born in Mumbai on December 10, 1928.  As a senior advocate in the Supreme Court of India, Shri Bhandare is respected as a champion of the causes of common man. Shri Bhandare was the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association for two terms. He was a Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha having been elected in June 1980 and re-elected in April 1982 and April 1988. He was Chairman of various committees of the Parliament and visited USA, UK, USSR, Germany and several other foreign countries.

Shri Bhandare edited two books titled The World of Gender Justice and Struggle for Gender Justice. His articles on Law, Human Rights, Population Control, Gender Parity and Justice have been published in leading magazines and journals.  He has been active in supporting the cause of women, children and differently-abled persons. He shows a keen interest in issues related to the empowerment of women, protection of rights of children and physically and mentally challenged persons.