Whatever that is is certainly not good. Or, were they trying to separate each section of a duplex outlet and feed the individual sections with separate breakers? I could see, maybe, running a heavy table saw and some other heavy item, you'd want a pair of 20 capable outlets, but make sure the WIRE is large enough, along with the outlets themselves being rated
Someone pointed out (I did not know this) that when doing this, you need a twin breaker so that if one outlet pops the breaker, the other one opens as well.