CERTIFICATION

 I, John A. Celentano, Jr. Chairman of  the Board and Chief Executive Officer of
 Clifton Savings Bancorp, Inc. certify that:

    1.       I have reviewed this quarterly report of Clifton Savings
             Bancorp, Inc.;

    2.       Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue
             statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact
             necessary to make the statements made, in light of the
             circumstances under which such statements were made, not
             misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

    3.       Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other
             financial information included in this report, fairly present
             in all material respects the financial condition, results of
             operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for,
             the periods presented in this report;

    4.       The registrant's other certifying officer and I are
             responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure
             controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules
             13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial
             reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and
             15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:

             (a)      Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or
                      caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be
                      designed under our supervision, to ensure that
                      material information relating to the registrant,
                      including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made
                      known to us by others within those entities,
                      particularly during the period in which this report
                      is being prepared;

             (b)      Designed such internal control over financial
                      reporting, or caused such internal control over
                      financial reporting to be designed under our
                      supervision, to provide reasonable assurance
                      regarding the reliability of financial reporting and
                      the preparation of financial statements for external
                      purposes in accordance with generally accepted
                      accounting principles;

             (c)      Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's
                      disclosure controls and procedures and presented in
                      this report our conclusions about the effectiveness
                      of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the
                      end of the period covered by this report based on
                      such evaluation; and

             (d)      Disclosed in this report any change in the
                      registrant's internal control over financial
                      reporting that occurred during the registrant's most
                      recent fiscal quarter (the registrant's fourth fiscal
                      quarter in the case of an annual report) that has
                      materially affected, or is reasonably likely to
                      materially affect, the registrant's internal control
                      over financial reporting; and

    5.       The registrant's other certifying officer and I have
             disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal
             control over financial reporting, to the registrant's auditors
             and the audit committee of registrant's board of directors (or
             persons performing the equivalent functions):

             (a)      All significant deficiencies and material weakness in
                      the design or operation of internal control over
                      financial reporting which are reasonably likely to
                      adversely affect the registrant's ability to record,
                      process, summarize and report financial information;
                      and

             (b)      Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves
                      management or other employees who have a significant
                      role in the registrant's internal control over
                      financial reporting.



Date: November 7, 2008         /s/ John A. Celentano, Jr.
                               -------------------------------------------------
                               John A. Celentano, Jr.
                               Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
                               (principal executive officer)