Litigants should seek remedies through appellate procedures rather than maligning judges with baseless allegations.

JUDGMENT :

(J.J. Munir, J.)

1. Heard learned Counsel for the applicant in support of this application at great length.

2. This Transfer Application has been moved by defendant No.1 of Original Suit No.298 of 2020, M/s. Amar Concrete Slipper and Another Vs. Bechan Singh and Others, seeking transfer of the suit aforesaid, from the Court of the Civil Judge (Senior Division) Varanasi to any other Court of competent jurisdiction in the judgeship.

3. The applicant earlier approached the learned District Judge, Varanasi with the same prayer, who has rejected the applicant's transfer application vide order dated 21.09.2022. The allegations in the transfer application are founded on lack of impartiality of the Presiding Officer and his bias against the applicant, which the applicant says leads him to believe that he would not get justice at the hands of the Presiding Officer concerned. The basis for this belief in substance is that the defendant sought time to file a reply to the temporary injunction application made in the suit and objected to short dates being fixed in the temporary injunction matter. The learned Trial Judge declined the prayer for adjournment and is said to have told the learned Counsel for the defendant to address the Court on the temporary injunction matter, otherwise the Court would pass an injunction order.

4. It is also the applicant's case that this course of action was adopted by the Trial Judge, even though an application under Order VII Rule 11 CPC questioning the maintainability of the suit had been made. It is also averred that in the month of May, 2022, the applicant overheard a conversation between the Pairokar of the respondents and his Counsel where they said that the application under Order VII Rule 11 CPC filed by the applicant would certainly be dismissed and a temporary injunction order passed in their favour.

5. It is then averred that when the application under Order VII Rule 11 CPC was dismissed on 25.07.2022, the applicant was confident that what the applicant heard in the month of May, 2022, was not just a rumor. The Presiding Officer's fairness, independence and impartiality in the case is compromised. The order of the learned District Judge in rejecting the transfer application has also been criticized, saying that ignoring the averments in the transfer application made before the learned District Judge, his application has been refused.

6. This Court has also looked into the order passed by the learned District Judge refusing the plea for transfer. A perusal of the said order reveals that the allegations before the learned District Judge were more elaborate. It was said before the learned Judge that the conduct of the Presiding Officer was such that it would affect the future course of proceedings. The Presiding Officer was fixing short dates of one to two days. It was alleged in the application before the learned Judge that when the Counsel for the applicant objected to the short dates, saying that in older cases the Court was adjourning by fifteen to twenty days and that there was no reason to adjourn the present case by one or two days alone, the Presiding Officer is said to have told the learned Counsel that he may better address the Court on the temporary injunction matter, otherwise an injunction order would be passed against his clients.

7. It was further said by the Judge that the learned Counsel may complain against him anywhere that he wishes. It is also attributed to the learned Trial Judge that he told the learned Counsel for the applicant that he may permit him to pass orders in this case and the learned Counsel would be engaged in many cases. There was also the same allegation that though the suit is not maintainable, but when the motion under Order VII Rule 11 CPC was heard, afterwards outside the Court room, the plaintiff's Perokar and learned Counsel were overheard saying that they had a talk with the Judge and the application under Order VII Rule 11 CPC would be surely rej