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His Lordship Mr. Justice Mohammad Rafiq was administered the oath of office of the Chief Justice of Orissa High Court on 27th April, 2020 by His Excellency the Governor of Odisha Prof. Ganeshi Lal, on being transferred from the Meghalaya High Court.
His Lordship Mr. Justice Mohammad Rafiq was the Chief Justice of the High Court of Meghalaya from 13th November, 2019 to 26th April, 2020. Prior to his appointment as the Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court, his Lordship served as a Judge of the Rajasthan High Court where he was elevated as Judge on May 15th 2006.
His Lordship was born on May 25th 1960 at Sujangarh in Churu district of Rajasthan. He completed his B.Com in 1980, LL.B in 1984 and M.Com in 1986 from University of Rajasthan. His Lordship later on joined the Bar and practiced as Advocate after enrolment with the Bar Council of Rajasthan on 8th July 1984.
His Lordship practiced exclusively in Rajasthan High Court at Jaipur 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.
His Lordship worked as Assistant Government Advocate for the State of Rajasthan from July 15th 1986 to December 21st 1987 and Deputy Government Advocate from December 22nd 1987 to June 29th 1990. His Lordship appeared before the High Court as panel advocate for various Departments of the State Government such as Co-operatives, Finance, Forest, Irrigation, Urban Development and Animal Husbandry for five years i.e. from 1993 to 1998.
His Lordship also represented the Union of India as Standing Counsel from 1992 to 2001 before the High Court. His Lordship also represented the Indian Railways, Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board, Rajasthan Board of Muslim Wakfs, Jaipur Development Authority, Rajasthan Housing Board and Jaipur Municipal Corporation before the Rajasthan High Court.
His Lordship was appointed Additional Advocate General for the State of Rajasthan on January 7th 1999 and worked as such till his Lordship’s elevation to the Bench.
His Lordship is Life Member of the Indian Law Institute and has also been member of its Governing Council. On administrative side of the Rajasthan High Court, apart from being member of various Committees, His Lordship chaired the Mediation and Arbitration Project Committee, the Steering Committee for Computerisation, the Rules Committee, the Arrears Committee, the Examination Committee, the Building Committee and the Library Committee. His Lordship was In-Charge of the Mediation Centre of the High Court at Jaipur for five years and with that, was also simultaneously the Chairman of the Rajasthan High Court Legal Services Committee for three years.
His Lordship also worked as Acting Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court twice; from April 7th 2019 to May 4th 2019 and from September 23rd 2019 to October 5th 2019. His Lordship was also the Executive Chairman of the Rajasthan State Legal Services Authority and the Administrative Judge of the Rajasthan High Court prior to elevation as the Chief Justice.