Justice Rafiq sworn in as new Meghalaya CJ

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaNovember 13, 2019

SHILLONG: Justice Mohammad Rafiq on Wednesday sworn in as the new Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High Court.

Governor Tathagata Roy administered the oath of office to the new chief justice at the swearing in ceremony held at the Raj Bhavan here in the presence of chief minister Conrad K Sangma, cabinet ministers and other dignitaries.

However, members of the opposition Congress have failed to turn up for the ceremony.

Speaking to reporters, Rafiq said that his top priority would be disposed of cases which are pending for the last five years.

“I am told there are more than 2,500 cases in the different courts of the state which are older than five years,” he said.

The chief justice also emphasized on the need to strengthen and computerization of the high court and subordinate courts besides giving boost to the Lok Adalat.

His appointment also came after the former chief justice Ajay Kumar Mittal was transferred and appointed as new chief justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

Born 25 May 1960 in Churu, Rajasthan, Justice Rafiq has served as Acting Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court for two times.

He obtained degree of B.Com (1980), LL.B (1984) and M.com (1986) from University of Rajasthan. He was enrolled as an Advocate on 8 July 1984 with the Bar Council of Rajasthan. He practiced exclusively in Rajasthan High Court in almost all branches of law and especially conducted constitutional matters, service matters, land acquisition cases, land revenue cases, preventive detention cases, customs & excise matters, railway claims cases, tax matters, company matters and criminal matters before the High Court.

He worked as Assistant Government Advocate for the State from 15 July 1986 to 21 December 1987 and Deputy Government Advocate from 22 December 1987 to 29 June 1990. He was appointed Additional Advocate General for the State of Rajasthan on 7 January 1999 and worked as such till elevation to the Bench on 15 May 2006. He was elevated as Additional Judge of Rajasthan High Court on 15 May 2006. He was elevated as Permanent Judge of Rajasthan High Court on 14 May 2008.

He was appointed as the Acting Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court by the President of India on 3 April 2019. He took oath as the Acting Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court on 7 April 2019 upto 4 May 2019. Again appointed as Acting Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court from 23 September 2019 to 5 October 2019 after elevation of Justice Shripathi Ravindra Bhat to Supreme Court of India.