NEW DELHI, Aug 4: Justice Rohit Deo, a judge of the Bombay High Court sitting at its Nagpur Bench, on Friday resigned in the open court from office for “personal reasons” stating that he could not compromise with his self-respect.
Justice Deo had the assignment of hearing civil cases and on Friday discharged all the matters listed before him before announcing in the open court that he had already submitted his resignation.
Making the announcement in his courtroom in Nagpur, Justice Deo said he could not compromise on self-respect. According to lawyers present in the courtroom, Justice Deo said, “Those who are present in the court, I apologise to each one of you. I scolded you because I want you to improve. I don’t want to hurt anyone of you because you all are like family to me and I am sorry to tell you that I have submitted my resignation. I can’t work against my self-respect. You people work hard.”
Speaking to reporters later, the judge said he has quit due to personal reasons and sent his resignation letter to the President of India.
On December 27, 2016, the Maharashtra Cabinet had appointed the then advocate general Deo as an additional judge of the High Court on June 5, 2017, and he was made a permanent judge on April 12, 2019. He was set to retire on December 4, 2025.
According to some lawyers and court staff, Justice Deo resigned because he received a lot of flak for passing two judgments in the recent past. Last week, Justice Deo had stayed a government resolution issued on January 3, 2023, that gave the Maharashtra government the power to cancel punitive proceedings by the Revenue Department related to any illegal excavation of minor minerals by contractors in the construction or execution work of Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Expressway.
On October 14, 2022, Justice Deo had discharged the wheelchair bound 90 per cent physically disabled former Delhi University professor GN Saibaba in an alleged Maoist links case, setting aside the life imprisonment convict in jail for nine years. The Bench headed by Justice Deo had held the sessions court order of convicting Saibaba was “null and void” and set it aside in the absence of valid sanction under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. However, the Supreme Court on April 19, 2023, had stayed the acquittal. The Supreme Court later stayed the order and ordered the Nagpur bench of the High Court to hear the case afresh.
(Manas Dasgupta)
