In a sudden development, Justice Shamik Mukherjee of the Delhi High Court on Monday resigned amid reports that it was linked to the recent CBI raids on some top DDA officials' premises.
Following the raids, DDA vice-chairman Subash Sharma had been removed from the post on charges of wrongdoing.
Mukherjee said he has resigned for 'personal reasons' and denied any connection between him and the reported seizure of some of his court files relating to the DDA from an official's residence during the CBI raids.
"I have nothing to do with the DDA scam. You can ask anybody who has practiced in the high court," he told PTI on reports that linked his resignation to the recent CBI raids.
"All the files which came to me have been properly put in the court custody and all of them have been properly accounted for," he said when asked whether his resignation had any connection with the seizure of the files from the official's residence.
"There is no connection between me and any of the DDA official under the scanner of CBI," he said.
"In fact, I had never taken up any DDA related cases and I have no knowledge other than from newspaper reports about the raids," he said.
"For the last 7-8 months, I have been feeling guilty that I have not been able to give time to my ailing wife. Her illness has been playing on my mind."
"I had not been able to concentrate on the judicial work and several judgments were pending. So I decided to quit and start practicing so that I can attend to her," he said.
"I was one week away from being confirmed as a judge in the high court. If I become a judge and then resign, I would not be entitled to practice in the Delhi high court," Justice Mukherjee said.
The judge said his decision to resign came after consultations with his kin following a death in the family.
"On Saturday, I made the decision to quit after I lost my brother-in-law on that day, to the same disease.
Justice Mukherjee, an additional judge, sent his resignation to Chief Justice B C Patel who is likely to forward it to President A P J Abdul Kalam for acceptance, sources said.
