Uke tenders 2nd unconditional apology in HC

Nagpur: Advocate Satish Uke on Thursday tendered an unconditional apology in the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court in the second suo motu contempt plea against him.
A special division bench comprising justices Zaka Haq and Vinay Deshpande adjourned the hearing till March 27, after additional government pleader Ketki Joshi sought time to file a reply.

In his apology, Uke, who has been twice convicted for contempt of the HC, also retracted all baseless and scurrilous allegations made against several sitting judges and lawyers.

Uke, who was absconding for nearly a year, filed his first apology on February 28 before a division bench comprising Ravi Deshpande and Murlidhar Giratkar, which then adjourned the hearing till March 15.

On February 8 last year, the HC had convicted Uke in contempt and sentenced him to two months simple imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs2,000. He later filed an appeal before the Supreme Court, which rejected his plea and also his review petition, where he had offered to tender an apology. As per the SC’s directives, he offered an unconditional apology to the Bombay high court and its judges.

The petitioner had gained a notorious reputation for moving applications, seeking transfer of cases, asking judges to recuse, seeking exemption from appearing in court, and adjournments to move the SC. After showing leniency for a considerable period, the HC moved a suo motu contempt petition initiated by justice Deshpande. Uke was charged with abusing the legal process by filing fake and frivolous litigations before the HC.

SC division bench comprising justices Ranjan Gogoi and Navin Sinha granted him a last opportunity while hearing his review petition filed through senior counsel Kapil Sibal, former HRD minister in UPA government.