Inderjit v Registrar of Tittles (Civil Appeal 57 of 2000)

Court of Appeal · [2001] UGCA 37 · 2001 Appeal Allowed ✦ AI-generated summary ↓ Download

Jurisdiction

Uganda

Case Type

Civil appeal from a High Court ruling striking out an application under section 190 of the Registration of Titles Act

Decision

Appeal allowed; preliminary objection overruled and the appellant's application reinstated to be heard on merit in the High Court

The full judgment

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Holding

The Court of Appeal held that section 190 of the Registration of Titles Act is permissive, not mandatory. Where the Registrar has already informed the proprietor in writing of the grounds for his decision, there is no need to make a formal application accompanied by the prescribed fee for the Registrar to repeat reasons already known. Such a requirement would be superfluous. The Registrar's letter of 5 August 1999 had given the appellant the reasons for noting the re-entry, namely that no convincing reason was advanced against it. The trial judge erred in striking out the application as incurably defective. The appeal was allowed and the application reinstated to be heard on merit.

Facts

The appellant was the registered leasehold proprietor of land at LRV 687 Folio 9, on mailo Plot 347 Kibuga Block 29. His lease title was expropriated and vested in Government in 1973 following the expulsion of Asians, and was returned to him by Certificate of Repossession on 3 September 1993. The mailo proprietor's administrator, Godfrey Kiseka, purportedly re-entered the land for alleged non-payment of rents and later sold to a Dr Kataaha. The re-entry was noted on the appellant's title without notice. After the appellant's advocate raised the anomaly, the Registrar cancelled and re-issued a notice. The appellant gave reasons against the notation, but on 5 August 1999 the Registrar wrote stating no convincing reasons were given and noted the re-entry. The appellant applied to the High Court under sections 190 and 197 of the RTA to reverse the notation, but the application was struck out for non-compliance with section 190.

Issues

Whether a formal application under section 190 of the Registration of Titles Act, accompanied by the prescribed fee, was necessary where the Registrar had already informed the proprietor in writing of the grounds for his decision before being summoned to substantiate those grounds in the High Court.

Orders

Appeal allowed.
Order of the High Court striking out the appellant's application set aside.
An order overruling the preliminary objection substituted in its place.
Appellant's application reinstated and to be heard on merit.
Costs of the appeal granted to the appellant.
Costs in the High Court to abide the outcome of the application.

Key headnotes

Registration of Titles — Section 190 RTA — Whether formal application for Registrar's grounds is mandatory

Section 190 of the Registration of Titles Act is permissive, not mandatory; where the Registrar has already informed the proprietor in writing of the grounds for his decision, no formal application accompanied by the prescribed fee is required to compel the Registrar to repeat those reasons before the proprietor may summon him to the High Court.

Permissive versus mandatory statutory provisions — Construction of procedural requirements

A statutory procedural step framed as permissive should not be applied so as to require an exercise in futility; requiring the Registrar to formally restate reasons already communicated in writing is superfluous and not a precondition to invoking the High Court's jurisdiction.

Striking out — Defective application — Reinstatement for hearing on merit

An application should not be struck out as incurably defective for failure to make a formal request under section 190 RTA where the underlying purpose of that provision has substantively been met; litigation on land matters should as far as possible be resolved on merit.

Legislation cited (2)

Registration of Titles Act s.190
Registration of Titles Act s.197

Cases cited (3)

Kakusa Investment and others v The Registrar of Titles (Miscellaneous Application No. 215 of 1994)
Charles Kassaja Stokes v The Registrar of Titles (Miscellaneous Application No. 51 of 1993)
Joseph Bayeego v The Chief Registrar of Titles (Miscellaneous Application No. 17 of 1992)

Source: this page presents Wakilii’s issue analysis and metadata for a publicly reported Ugandan judgment. Any AI-generated summary is marked as such. Judgment text is sourced from the Uganda Legal Information Institute (ulii.org). Wakilii is not affiliated with ULII.