Section 439

No Magistrate shall, except with the permission of the High

Court to which an appeal lies from his Court, try any case to or in which he is a party or personally interested.

Explanation—A Magistrate shall not be deemed to be a party or personally interested within the meaning of this section to or in any case by reason only that he is a member of a local authority or otherwise concerned in it in a public capacity, or by reason only that he has viewed the place in which an offence is alleged to have been committed or any other place in which any transaction material to the case is alleged to have occurred, and made an inquiry in connection with the case.

A, as Collector of Land Revenue, upon consideration of information furnished to him directs the prosecution of B for a breach of the land laws. A is disqualified from trying this case as a Magistrate.