Judgment

R.M. Sahai, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. Justice should not only be done but seem to be done. That is the basic structure on which confidence and faith in the institution rests. The judiciary from the bottom in the hierarchy to the apex at the top commands respect because of its impartiality and objectivity. When a Judge directs a case to be listed before another Court or Bench, as he know one or the other party, it is not because any statutory law precludes him from hearing and deciding it but the propriety is practised and observed to exclude even the remotest possibility of any misgiving or doubt about the impartiality of the Judge as even if he is just and fair and his decision is correct yet it may not be satisfying.

3. What happened in this case is not only unfortunate but to compound it further, the learned Judge even when apprised that he was the counsel for the respondent when he was at the Bar did not observe that minimum norm which is expected to be observed even by quasi-judicial authorities.

4. The dispute related to allotment of `chaks' in consolidation proceedings. Such a dispute does not raise any question of title. No exception, therefore, could be taken to th