Justice Satyaranjan Dharmadhikari, the second senior-most judge of the Bombay High Court, has resigned citing “personal and family reasons”.
Justice Dharmadhikari said he has been elevated as the Chief Justice of the High Court of another state, but he “has some personal responsibilities here in Mumbai, which is why I did not want to be transferred out of Maharashtra”.
“I had to resign due to purely personal and family issues. I did not want to leave Mumbai and they were not ready to elevate me as the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court,” Justice Dharmadhikari told reporters.
Justice Dharmadhikari served as a High Court judge for over 16 years. He sent his resignation to the President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday. He was the second senior-most judge of the High Court after Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and his retirement was due after two years.
It is not yet clear whether his resignation has been accepted or not. Justice Dharmadhikari on Friday told the lawyers in court that it was his last day in the office and he would not be available from February 17.
Justice Dharmadhikari, who hails from a family of lawyers, had completed his LLB from Bombay University. His father, late Chandrashekhar Dharmadhikari, was also a former acting Chief Justice of Bombay HC.
Several significant and landmark judgments on a variety of disputes and issues were passed by Justice Dharmadhikari. He had lashed out at the government over the delay in probe into rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and communist leader Govind Pansare murder cases. He had also led the bench that had refused to declare the “Aarey” colony in Mumbai as a forest area.