Shimla, Oct 14 (UNI) Justice Mohammad Rafiq was sworn in as the Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court here on Thursday.
Speaking to media person after taking oath, Justice Mohammad Rafiq said that he would ensure that all criminals cases pending for more than five years in the high court and other subordinate courts of state be heard on top priority.
He was administered the oath of office by Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar in a ceremony held at the Raj Bhawan.
The ceremony took place at the Darbar Hall, where Chief Secretary Ram Subhag Singh conducted the proceedings.

Chief Minister Shri Jai Ram Thakur and his wife Sadhana Thakur were also present on the occasion.
Justice Rafiq was born on May 25, 1960, at Sujangarh in Churu district of Rajasthan. He completed B.Com in 1980, LL.B in 1984 and M.Com in 1986 from University of Rajasthan.
He later joined the Bar and practised as Advocate after enrolement with the Bar Council of Rajasthan on July 8, 1984.
He practised exclusively in the Rajasthan High Court in 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.
He worked as Assistant Government Advocate for the State of Rajasthan from July 15, 1986 to December 21, 1987, and Deputy Government Advocate from December 22, 1987 to June 29, 1990.
He appeared before the High Court as panel advocate for various Departments of the State Government for five years i.e. from 1993 to 1998. He also represented the Union of India as Standing Counsel from 1992 to 2001 before the High Court.
He 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.
He was appointed as Additional Advocate General for the State of Rajasthan on January 7, 1999 and remained in the position till his elevation to the Bench. He was appointed as Judge of the Rajasthan High Court on May 15, 2006.

He also worked as Acting Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court twice; from April 7, 2019 to May 4, 2019 and from September 23, 2019 to October 5, 2019.
He 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.
He was the Chief Justice of the High Court of Meghalaya from November 13, 2019 to April 26, 2020. Justice Mohammad Rafiq was administered the oath of office of the Chief Justice of Orissa High Court on April 27, 2020, on being transferred from the Meghalaya High Court.
He was administered the oath of office of the Chief Justice of High Court of Madhya Pradesh on January 3, 2021, on being transferred from the Orissa High Court.
Urban Development Minister Suresh Bhardwaj, Judges of Himachal Pradesh High Court, Justice Vijay Kumar Shukla from Madhya Pradesh High Court, GoC-in-C, ARTREC Lt. General Raj Shukla, Advocate General Ashok Sharma, Chairman of various commissions, DGP Mr Sanjay Kundu, Mayor Ms Satya Kaundal, Chairmen and Vice-chairmen of various boards and corporations, Vice Chancellors, senior officers of the state government and other prominent people were also present on the occasion.
The new chief justice said that he has been CJ of Madhya Pradesh and Orissa high courts earlier therefore taking over as Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High court did not make any difference as far as performance the duty of head of state judiciary.
After assuming duty of Chief Justice of Himachal he would convene a meeting of all high court judges, judicial officers of high court and other judges of subordinate courts to make special efforts to end the pendency of cases in the different courts of the state, Rafiq said.
Wife of Justice Mohammad Rafiq, Seema Rafiq was also present at the oath taking ceremony.
UNI ML ING