J&K IAS officer accused harassing judge seeks more time to apologize

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir IAS officer Shyambir Singh, accused of harassing Ganderbal’s Chief Judicial Magistrate Fayaz Ahmad Qureshi over a land acquisition case, has requested more time from the state's High Court to decide whether he will file a written apology and personally appear before the judge.

The High Court initiated contempt proceedings against Singh following a reference made by Magistrate Qureshi, who accused Singh of failing to comply with a previous court order and launching a personal attack on him through "manipulation and fabrication." Qureshi also alleged that Singh had initiated an inquiry into his land ownership as an act of "revenge" for passing an adverse order and withholding his salary in a land acquisition case.

Appearing before a Division Bench of Justices Atul Sreedharan and Sanjeev Kumar, Singh orally requested additional time, emphasizing that he had no intention of "undermining the dignity of the learned court." The court granted his request and listed the case for August 14, noting that Singh asked for time to consider whether he would submit an affidavit of apology and personally appear before the magistrate.

The case stems from a complaint filed by petitioners who claimed they had not been compensated by the government for land acquired from them.