A reasonable apprehension of bias on the part of a judge is a sufficient ground for transferring a case to another court.

Raj Kishore Prasad, J.

1. These three applications are for the transfer of three suits pending before the Court of Mr. Sachindanand Sinha, Subordinates Judge, Hazaribagh, from his Court to the Court of any other Subordinate Judge attached at Hazaribagh.

2. Miscellaneous Judicial Case No. 291 of 1955 is in respect of Title Suit No. 66 of 1951, in which the petitioner who is the wife of Raja Bahadur of Ramgarh, is the plaintiff; Miscellaneous Judicial Case No. 292 of 1955 is in respect of Title Suit No. 24 of 1953 in which the Raja Bahadur of Ramgarh is himself the plaintiff, and Miscellaneous Judicial Case No. 293 of 1955 is in respect of Title Suit No. 53 of 1954, ad which the State of Bihar is the plaintiff arid the Raja Bahadur is one of the several defendants. Hearing of Title Suit No. 24 of 1953 and Title Suit No. 53 of 1954 has not yet commenced; Title Suit No. 66 of 1951, however, is being heard, with the consent of all the parties along with 25 other suits since November 1953. Mr. K. K. Bose the then Subordinate Judge of Hazaribagh, commenced the hearing of these suits, but when he was transferred from there in June, 1954 and in his place the present Subordinate Judge came, he took up the hearing of these suits. So far 37 witnesses have been examined on behalf of the plaintiffs of the different suits. The present Subordinate Judge has examined out of 37 witnesses about 8 or 10 witnesses. When these suits were proceeding before the present Subordinate Judge, applications for transfer of 5 suits, 2 of which are not before this Court were filed on the 24th of February, 1955, on several grounds, before the District Judge, Hazaribagh, who by his order dated the 4th April 1955, after considering the applications for transfer, the counter-affidavit filed by the State of Bihar, and, the report of the learned Subordinate Judge, came to the conclusion that no case for transferring the suits from the file of the learned Subordinate Judge had been made out, and, as such as he rejected all the transfer applications.

3. The three petitioners mentioned above have now moved this Court under Section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The State of Bihar, which is the opposite party in these applications, is represented before this Court by Mr. Bajrang Sahay. A counter-affidavit on behalf of the opposite party has been filed in this Court on the 6th September, 1955, replying to the various al legations made in the applications for transfer filed before this Court.

4. All the three applications have been heard together with the consent of the parties, when the hearing of these cases was taken up. Mr. B. K. Banerji, appearing for the petitioners pressed his application under Sec.151, Code of Civil Procedure filed on the 7th of November, 1955, before this Court for amendment of the transfer applications by treating these applications also under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, and wanted amendment of these applications by merely adding Article 227 of the Constitution of India to the provision of law stated in the applications for transfer on the ground that these transfer applications also fell within the ambit of Article 227 of the Constitution. It is concluded by Mr. Banerji that Sec.24, Code of Civil Procedure alone is sufficient to cover the present case, and this Court has ample powers to pass necessary and effective orders, in appropriate cases, under Sec.24 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

The mere fact, therefore, that an application for transfer also falls within the ambit of Article 227 of the Constitution is no ground for allowing the amendment merely ex abundant cautela. In my opinion, the amendment asked for, in the circumstances, is unnecessary. I therefore, disallow the prayer of Mr. Banerji.

5. I now proceed to consider the applications for transfer, as originally made, under Sec.24, Code of Civil Procedure. Mr. Banerji has confined himself to the facts mentioned in paragraphs 8, 8a, 9, 10 and 11 only as const