Justice Vazifdar takes over as Punjab and Haryana high court CJ

Acting chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana high court, Shiavax Jal Vazifdar, was on Saturday sworn in as 33rd chief justice of the high court.

He was administered oath of office by governor Kaptan Singh Solanki at the Haryana Raj Bhavan.

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Punjab cabinet minister Adesh Pratap Kairon and chief secretaries of both the states were among those present on the occasion, besides the judges of the high court.

Justice Vazifdar was born on May 4, 1956 and completed school education in 1972 from Rishi Valley School, Bombay, and graduated from St. Xavier’s College, Bombay. He did LLB from Hinduja Law College, Bombay.

He got enrolled as an advocate on the rolls of the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa on October 17, 1980. He was sworn in as additional judge of the Bombay High Court on January 22, 2001.

He assumed charge as the acting chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on December 15, 2014 on transfer from the Bombay high court.

‘NO DECISION ON SEPARATE HC FOR HARYANA’

Talking to the media after the swearing-in ceremony, Vazifdar said that no decision had been taken on the demand for a separate high court for Haryana.

“I am not the only one who has to decide about it,” he said while adding that he was yet to get the report of the committee constituted to look into the matter.

The chief justice admitted that there was shortage of judges, but said efforts were being taken to clear the backlog of cases.

“In the recent past, there have been months when the disposal rate (of cases) was higher than the institution rate. We all are under tremendous pressure, but working hard. You must have seen how many cases are listed every day before the judges,” he said.

He refused to take questions on the logjam between the judiciary and the central government over the appointment of high court and Supreme Court judges.

Asked about his priorities, he said that like every institution head, his priorities will be smooth functioning of the high court and focus on measures that can ensure relief to common man.