On dated 4th August 2023, second senior most Judge Justice Rohit Deo of Bombay High Court announced his resignation in the open court. After talking with the media persons, he stated that that “due to personal reason” he announced his resignation in the open court . However, there are speculations that he resigned due to an impending transfer and because he did not want to leave his parent High Court Since 2017, it was witnessed that 12 High Court judges has resigned, with maximum resignation comes from the state of Mumbai. Some resignations are done in voluntary, some are done on their personal basis and some were under circumstances related to their services.
The following is the list of judges who has resigned from their position –
- Justice Jayant Patel (2017);
- Justice Nakka Balayogi (2018);
- Justice V Tahilramani (2019);
- Justice Anant Bijay Singh (2020);
- Justice SC Dharmadhikari (2020);
- Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal (2020);
- Justice Sunil Kumar Awasthi (2021);
- Justice Sharad Kumar Gupta (2021);
- Justice Dama Seshadri Naidu (2021);
- Justice Ajay Tewari (2022);
- Justice Chander Bhusan Barowalia (2022);
- Justice Rohit B Deo (2023)
Justice Jayant Patel (September 2017)
Justice Patel was appointed as an additional judge of the Gujarat High Court in December 2001 and made permanent in August 2004. The judge resigned in September 2017, after being transferred to the Allahabad High Court instead of being appointed as the Acting Chief Justice or the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court, where he was the second senior-most judge. At Allahabad, he would have been the third senior-most judge, if transferred. However, he chose to step down from the post.
Justice Nakka Balayogi (later withdrew his resignation in December 2018)
Justice Nakka Balayogi, in December 2018 resigned from service, a year after being made a permanent judge of High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad. His resignation was notified by the Central government, but the judge immediately withdrew the same. The President accepted the request for withdrawal of resignation.
Justice V Tahilramani (September 2019)
In the year 2001 Justice Tahilramani was elevated as a judge of the Bombay High Court served as Acting Chief Justice, then after she was transferred to and appointed as Chief Justice of Madras in the year 2018. However, within 11 months of her tenure at the Madras High Court, Ranjan Gogoi recommended her transfer to the Meghalaya High Court. Her appeal to the Collegium to reconsider its decision fell on deaf ears, resultant in her resignation.
Justice Anant Bijay Singh (January 2020)
In January 2020, Justice Anant Bijay Singh resigned from the post of judge at Jharkhand High Court in January 2020. He was appointed as an additional judge in April 2016 and later made permanent in January 2018.
Justice SC Dharmadhikari (February 2020)
Just like Justice Rohit Deo , another Bombay High Court Judge ,Justice SC Dharmadhikari declared his decision to resign in open court on February 14, 2020. He was serving as the second senior-most judge of the High Court.
Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal (May 2020)
In May 2020, Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal who was elevated as High Court Judge in the year 2014 stepped down as Delhi High Court judge a month before her actual date of retirement. Later after the resignation she was appointed as Delhi State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.
Justice Sunil Kumar Awasthi (January 2021)
Justice Sunil Kumar Awasthi elevated to High Court as an additional judge in 2016. He was made permanent in March 2018 at Madhya Pradesh High Court. On January 2, 2021, he resigned from office of the Madhya Pradesh High Court
Justice Sharad Kumar Gupta (March 2021)
Justice Gupta appointed as High Court judge of High Court Judicate of Chhattisgarh from June 2017. On 31st March 2021, he steeped down as Chhattisgarh High Court Judge , just few days from retirement stating the reason that he had given his consent for an ‘undisclosed assignment’ offered to him by Congress led government at that point of time.
Justice Dama Seshadri Naidu (August 2021)
In the year 2021, due to personal reason Justice Dama Seshadri Naidu steeped down as Bombay High Court Judge. Primarily he was appointed as judge at High Court of Andhra Pradesh , then after served as judge at Kerala High Court before he was transferred to the Bombay High Court in March 2019.
Justice Ajay Tewari (March 2022)
Justice Tewari was second senior most judge after Chief Justice Ravi Shanker Jha at High Court of Punjab and Haryana. In the year 2008 , he was appointed as a judge of the Punjab & Haryana High Court in July 2008.but he steeped down as the judge at High Court of Punjab and Haryana in the year 2022.
Justice Chander Bhusan Barowalia (November 2022)
Elevation as an additional judge of the Himachal Pradesh High Court in April 2016, he had been serving in the lower judiciary of the State since January 2003. In November 2022, Justice Chander Bhusan Barowalia of the Himachal Pradesh High Court announced his resignation .