Vandana Banerjee Vs. Chandra Singh and ors. - Court Judgment

Excerpt:

- [a.m. ahmadi and; k. ramaswamy, jj.] -- natural justice — bias — counsel for the management in a proceeding elevated to bench — such a judge, held, should not decide a case arising out of the decision in such proceeding — administrative law -- the management was supporting the case of respondent 1 in the said proceedings. the management did not succeed. hence the contention that the learned judge who had argued the matter supporting the case of respondent 1 should not have heard the case and done exactly what he had canvassed for. we have deliberately abstained ourselves from expressing any view on the merit of the matter.a.m. ahmadi and; k. ramaswamy, jj.1. special leave granted.2. heard counsel for the parties.3. having perused the facts of the case we are inclined to think that the impugned order deserves to be set aside. the learned single judge who dealt with the matter should not have dealt with it having regard to the fact that he had appeared in the said proceedings on behalf of the management while he was at the bar. the management was supporting the case of respondent 1 in the said proceedings. the management did not succeed. hence the contention that the learned judge who had argued the matter supporting the case of respondent 1 should not have heard the case and done exactly what he had canvassed for. the dicta that justice must not only be done but must also appear to be done, required him to abstain from taking up the matter. we agree. we, therefore, set aside the impugned order and remit the matter back to the high court to be disposed of by a judge other than mr justice a.p. singh. the appeal will stand allowed accordingly with no order as to costs. we have deliberately abstained ourselves from expressing any view on the merit of the matter.