J&K contempt case: IAS officer gives written apology to judge

“The respondent verbally reaffirmed that he is tendering the apology sincerely and he undertakes that he will not cause any interference in the judicial functions and will always respect the courts of law,” the order said, adding, “The apology has been placed on file and a copy of the same is submitted to Hon’ble High Court of J&K and Ladakh for further kind orders…”

On Monday, Singh, a 2018-batch IAS officer, had appeared in the HC — which initiated the contempt proceedings against Singh on the back of a contempt reference sent by CJM Qureshi — and apologised, saying he had no intention of “undermining the dignity of the learned court”.

Division Bench of Justices Atul Sreedharan and Sanjeev Kumar, however, told Singh that if he was sincere in his apology he should go back to the CJM court and apologise there. The HC listed the case for August 14. Singh then asked the HC for time to think over whether he would file a written apology to the CJM and “personally appear” in his court.

In his contempt reference, CJM Qureshi accused DC Singh of not only failing to comply with one of his previous orders but of also personally attacking him “by manipulation and fabrication”. He had also alleged that the DC had launched an inquiry into some land he owned as an act of “revenge” for passing an adverse order and withholding his salary in a land acquisition case, where some petitioners had approached the CJM saying they had not been compensated by the government for land acquired from them.