Pande was commissioned into the Bombay Sappers, one of the regiments in the Corps of Engineers, in December 1982. He attended the Staff College, Camberley in the United Kingdom. After completing the course, he returned to India and was appointed brigade major of a mountain brigade in Northeast India.[4] After promotion to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, he served as the Chief Engineer at the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea.[3] Pande has commanded the 117 Engineer Regiment along the Line of Control (LOC) in Jammu and Kashmir. He was in command of the regiment during Operation Parakram.[5] He then attended the Army War College, Mhow and completed the Higher Command Course. After the course, he was appointed Colonel Q at HQ 8 Mountain Division.[5] He was then promoted to the rank of Brigadier and given command of an Engineer brigade as part of a Strike Corps in the western theatre.[5] He also commanded the 52 Infantry Brigade, positioned along the LOC. Pande was selected to attend the prestigious National Defence College.[3] After completing the course, he was appointed Brigadier General Staff Operations (BGS-Ops) at HQ Eastern Command.
After promotion to the rank of Major General, Pande took command of 8 Mountain Division which was involved in high-altitude operations in western Ladakh.[4] He then served a tenure in the Military Operations directorate at Army Headquarters as the Additional Director General (ADG).[4] Promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General, he served as the Chief of Staff of the Southern Command.[2] On 30 December 2018, Pande took command of the IV Corps at Tezpur from Lt Gen Gurpal Singh Sangha.[6][7] The corps is deployed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) as well as in Counter-insurgency operations in the North-East.[3] After about a year-and-a half at the helm of IV Corps, he moved to Army HQ and was appointed Director General dealing with subjects of Discipline, Ceremonial and Welfare.[3]
On 30 April 2020, Pande was appointed the next Commander-in-Chief of the Andaman and Nicobar Command. He assumed command on 1 June 2020 after the incumbent Lt Gen P S Rajeshwar superannuated on 31 May 2020.[8]
