He may well be the most interesting man you’ve ever met. Besides his long career as a lawyer, Vikas Khaladkar has experience as an archeologist, an inventor, a photographer, a father and grandfather, an immigrant to Canada and a school friend of Freddie Mercury.
Now he can add Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court judge to the list.
Khaladkar’s appointment to the court’s trial division was announced Friday by federal Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould.
Khaladkar had been a Crown prosecutor with the Special Prosecutions Office since 2007, having accepted a one-year position that became permanent. Born in Dar es Salaam (in what is now Tanzania), Khaladkar attended boarding school in India starting at age seven, alongside the future Freddie Mercury of Queen. Khaladkar and his family immigrated to Canada in 1962 and settled in Saskatchewan.
After earning a degree in anthropology and psychology from the University of Saskatchewan in 1972, Khaladkar started law school, but took a year off to work as an archeologist on an environmental impact study in that province. He met his future wife, a Newfoundlander, on that project and the couple now have two children and two grandchildren.
Khaladkar was called to the Saskatchewan bar in 1977 and practiced law there for 30 years. He was the first general counsel for what is now called the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, and represented the organization in negotiations leading up to the Charlottetown Accord.
In 1994, he was co-counsel on the first Canadian charter case dealing with an accused’s right to counsel without delay heard by the Supreme Court of Canada.
In this province, Khaladkar has prosecuted a number of high-profile cases, including that of Trevor Pardy, who was convicted in 2015 of first-degree murder for the shooting death of his ex-girlfriend, Triffie Wadman, as well as all cases that have come before the court relating to breaches of privacy of information law.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Khaladkar invented a system for managing bingo games via computerized tracking and production of cards, making it easier to determine winners and harder for players to cheat. He is also an accomplished nature photographer.
Khaladkar is replacing Newfoundland Supreme Court Justice Richard LeBlanc, who elected supernumerary status at the end of September.
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