‘I apologise to each one of you’: Bombay high court’s justice Rohit Deo resigns

As he announced his resignation, justice Rohit B Deo also encouraged lawyers and others in his courtroom to work harder and acknowledged that he had been strict with them on occasions

NAGPUR: Justice Rohit B Deo of the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court on Friday said he has resigned from office citing personal reasons.

Justice Rohit Deo was appointed as an additional judge in June 2017 when he was Maharashtra’s advocate general

Justice Deo announced his resignation in the courtroom on Friday. “I apologise to each one of you who are present in the court. I scolded you because I want you to improve. I don’t want to hurt any of you because you all are like a family to me and I am sorry to tell you that I have submitted my resignation. I can’t work against my self-respect,” he said.

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“My letter of resignation was sent to the President of the country. I resigned from the service following personal reasons,” Justice Deo said.

Justice Deo was appointed as an additional judge in June 2017 when he was Maharashtra’s advocate general. In April 2019, he was elevated as a permanent judge. He was due to retire on December 4, 2025.

Justice Deo led the high court’s two-judge bench that last year struck down the conviction and life term handed down to former Delhi University professor Gokalkonda Naga Saibaba, for shoddy paperwork and faulty procedure adopted by the trial court. In its verdict delivered in October 2022, the bench acquitted Saibaba and five others charged with links to Maoists in the absence of a valid sanction under section 45(1) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

In April this year, the Supreme Court set aside Saibaba’s acquittal and sent the matter to the Nagpur bench to be decided afresh by a different bench. The top court had also asked the high court to decide the case within four months.

On July 26, justice Deo also stayed the operation of a government resolution that empowered the state government to cancel punitive proceedings initiated against contractors working on the Samruddhi Mahamarg over alleged illegal excavation of minor minerals.