Hon’ble Mr. Justice Rajiv Narain Raina
Born on 5th of July, 1958 at Jalandhar in a distinguished family of Kashmiri Pandits settled in the Punjab in the mid 19th century at Jalandhar. His great great grandfather Rai Bahadur Pt.Sheo Narain Raina ‘Shameem’ (1859-1936) was born in Jalandhar and was a Leader of the Lahore Bar, MLC, Urdu poet, pioneer Urdu novelist, author of treatises on law including ‘Pleadings in Indian Courts’, a social reformer, Special Commissioner on the Special Commission that tried the First Supplementary Lahore Conspiracy Case, 1915, President of the Punjab Historical Records Commission and was a Buddhist revivalist who co-founded the Mulagundhakuti Vihar at Sarnath with the Reverend Anagarika Dharmapala of Ceylon. He was instrumental in drafting the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925 and remained Standing Counsel for Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee at the Lahore High Court from 1925 till his demise. Pt. Sheo Narain’s mother’s brother Justice Ram Narain Dar was the first Indian to be elevated as Judge of the Lahore Chief Court at age 37 in 1886. His great grandfather Pt. Kanwar Narain, Bar-at-law, practised at the Lahore High Court, was Honorary Secretary, Lahore High Court Bar Association in 1921 and 1922 and later remained Chief Judge of the Mandi Chief Court, Revenue Minister and Acting Chief Minister during the reign of Raja Sir Joginder Sen of erstwhile Mandi State now in Himachal Pradesh. His grandfather Sh Chand Narain Raina ‘Chand’ IAS was an eminent Urdu poet and civil servant of joint Punjab and remained Deputy Commissioner of Karnal, Shimla and Jalandhar districts. He was married to Bhuvaneshwari ‘Nighat’ a poet and the youngest child of Dr Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru. His father Sh Kapil Narain Raina was an Advocate and author who taught Roman Law at Law College, Jalandhar. His mother’s father Diwan Bahadur Pt Dharam Narain Kak, Bar-at-Law was Prime Minister of erstwhile Udaipur State and grandfather Sir Sukhdeo Prasad Kak, was Prime Minister of erstwhile Jodhpur State and had represented the Rajputana at the Round Table Conference at London. His mother’s great grandfather Pandit Shiv Narain Kak (d.1892) was appointed Member of the Supreme Governing Council of Jodhpur State to look after its administration under a treaty of 29th September, 1868 signed between the Governor General of India and Maharaja Takht Singh.
Justice Raina read at the St. John’s High School, Chandigarh where he excelled in Gymnastics and Theatre. He did his BA from Government College for Men, Chandigarh and obtained the Law degree from the Department of Laws, Panjab University, Chandigarh in 1982. He was initially enrolled as an Advocate with the UP Bar Council on 8.8.1982 and practised at the Allahabad High Court from 1982 to 1984 and returned to practise at the High Court at Chandigarh, his hometown on transfer to the Punjab & Haryana Bar Council. He remained part-time law lecturer at the Department of Laws, Panjab University, Chandigarh from 1987 to 1990 and taught Labour Laws. He also taught Industrial jurisprudence at the Department of Commerce & Business Management, PU, Chandigarh to a combined class of M.Com and MPM classes in 1988. He lectured during the period at the Haryana Institute of Public Administration on Labour Laws. Was Member Law Faculty, Panjab University during 1997-1999. He represented the Panjab University, his alma mater, in courts for many years. He was appointed as Second Reporter, Indian Law Reports (Punjab & Haryana) Series in 1987 by the Council of Law Reporting, thereafter First Reporter and then the Editor in April 2006 and remained as such till elevation, spending 24 years editing the ILR. He was appointed Assistant Advocate General, Punjab in February 1990 and remained as such till he resigned in October 1991 to resume private practice. Remained Deputy Advocate General, Haryana from May 1995 to May 1996. Was Additional Standing Counsel, UT Administration, Chandigarh from 2000 to 2007 and then from 2008 to 2010 and represented the Chandigarh Administration, Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh and the Chandigarh Housing Board in many important matters of the day. He was a panel counsel for the High Court from 2005 till elevation. He also remained a Partner of a Delhi based law firm at Chandigarh from March 2006 to January 2010. He gained experience in varied branches of law and practised mainly before the High Court on its Constitutional, writ, service law and civil side, and before the Central Administrative Tribunal, Chandigarh Bench, and District Courts, Chandigarh representing private and institutional clients. He was elevated as Additional Judge on 30th September 2011 and thereafter as Permanent Judge on 24.01.2014
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