Contempt case: Jammu and Kashmir High Court summons IAS officer accused of trying to frame sub-judge

The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has summoned Deputy Commissioner of Ganderbal, Shyambir (IAS) after a trial court judge alleged that the IAS officer has been trying to frame him in a false case as revenge for passing an adverse order [Noor Mohammad Gojar Chichi & Anr. v. State of J&K & Ors]..A Bench of Justices Sanjeev Kumar and Atul Sreedharan issued notice to the IAS officer on Friday (August 2), on a criminal contempt of court reference by Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Ganderbal Fayaz Ahmad Qureshi.The District Commissioner has been ordered to personally appear before the High Court on August 5. "The contemnor shall appear in person before this Court on Monday i.e., 5th August 2024 at 11:00 am sharp. Any attempt by him to avoid service of summons or his nonappearance shall be viewed seriously by this Court and the Court shall resort to coercive proceedings to secure his presence," the High Court warned. .The contempt case is linked to execution proceedings in a civil suit concerning the acquisition of certain land. Certain landowners had approached the trial court complaining that they did not receive any compensation from the government for the land acquisition. The CJM granted them relief in January by ordering the payment of compensation. In June, the court found that these orders were yet to be complied with. Therefore, it ordered the attachment of the salaries of the district officials concerned for failing to comply with the court's order. The district officials whose salary was so withheld included the deputy commissioner of Ganderbal, Shyambir Singh (IAS).The situation escalated when the IAS officer allegedly ordered an investigation into property belonging to CJM Qureshi.In a July 23 order, the CJM highlighted that this property was bought long before he became a judge and that there has been no dispute over its title in the fifteen years that it has remained his possession. .The judge expressed concern that Shyambir, along with other officials, have conspired implicate him in a fabricated case, since the order withholding salaries "didn't go well with the Deputy Commissioner."The CJM's order stated that the Deputy Commissioner even ordered a patwari (local authority) to investigate the land and initiate its demarcation as part of a bid to harass the judge. This was being done only to scandalise the judge and weaken him through manipulation and fabrication, the CJM's July 23 order said. "Out of the steps decided to be taken by the contemnor Deputy Commissioner against the Presiding Officer, one step was to frame the presiding officer in any fabricated incident and if this is not possible, to trace out if there is any property in the name of the Judge anywhere," the July 23 order added. On August 1, the CJM referred the matter to the High Court after the Deputy Commissioner failed to file any response to the allegations detailed in the July 23 order. "This court feels that sufficient opportunities have been granted to the contemnor who, despite seriousness of the matter, preferred not to appear before the court," the CJM observed. .Considering the gravity of issue, the High Court has requested Senior Advocate RA Jan to assist it as an amicus. The matter will be heard next on August 5, 2024..[Read High Court order].[Read CJM order dated July 23].[Read CJM order dated August 1]