Alenyo v The Chief Registrar Courts of Judicature and 2 others (Constitutional Petition No. 32 of 2014)

Constitutional Court · [2021] UGCC 1 · 2021 Petition Struck Out ✦ AI-generated summary ↓ Download

Jurisdiction

Uganda

Case Type

Constitutional petition under Article 137(3) challenging the denial of a practising certificate following disciplinary proceedings of the Law Council

Decision

Petition struck out for want of jurisdiction; the Chief Registrar and Secretary of the Law Council struck out as respondents, leaving the Attorney General as sole respondent, with costs to the Attorney General.

The full judgment

Read the complete, verbatim text of this judgment.

Cited — treatment unverified cited in 4 (treatment unverified) Derived from citing cases in the Wakilii corpus — not an assertion that this case is good law.

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Holding

The Constitutional Court struck out the petition for want of jurisdiction. It held that under Article 137 its jurisdiction is confined to questions requiring interpretation of the Constitution; a mere allegation that constitutional rights have been violated, without a question of interpretation, is enforceable under Article 50 by another competent court. The petitioner's complaints about the Law Council's disciplinary proceedings and the denial of a practising certificate sought redress for alleged infringement, not interpretation, and were in substance a disguised appeal for which a statutory remedy lay under section 22 of the Advocates Act. The court also held that the Chief Registrar and the Secretary of the Law Council, lacking statutory corporate personality, were improperly sued, leaving the Attorney General as sole respondent.

Facts

The petitioner, an advocate enrolled in 1994, faced numerous complaints of professional misconduct before the Law Council. Following disciplinary proceedings, the Disciplinary Committee found him guilty of professional misconduct in one complaint and on 18 September 2009 ordered that he be struck off the Roll of Advocates. As a consequence, the Chief Registrar of the Courts of Judicature denied him a practising certificate, a prerequisite to practising as an advocate. The petitioner brought a constitutional petition alleging that the denial contravened his right to practise his profession (Article 40(2)), his right to a fair hearing (Articles 28(1) and 43), and his right to fair treatment (Article 42), contending that the disciplinary proceedings were conducted without notice to him and that the resulting ruling failed to comply with the Advocates Act. The respondents objected that the Chief Registrar and the Secretary of the Law Council were not proper respondents and that the petition raised no question of constitutional interpretation.

Issues

Whether the Chief Registrar of the Courts of Judicature and the Secretary of the Law Council are proper respondents in a constitutional petition.
Whether the Constitutional Court has original jurisdiction over the subject matter of the petition, that is, whether the petition raises a question requiring interpretation of the Constitution.

Orders

The petition against the Chief Registrar of the Courts of Judicature and the Secretary of the Law Council is struck out, leaving the Attorney General as the sole respondent.
The petition is struck out for want of jurisdiction.
Costs awarded to the Attorney General.

Key headnotes

Constitutional Law — Jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court — Requirement of constitutional interpretation

The jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court under Article 137 is limited to questions that require interpretation of the Constitution; where a petitioner merely alleges that a constitutional provision has been violated, without a question of interpretation arising, the claim is enforceable under Article 50 of the Constitution by another competent court and not by the Constitutional Court.

Constitutional Law — Article 137(3)(b) — Acts and omissions read with Article 137(1)

Article 137(3)(b) must be read together with Article 137(1); the 'acts' and 'omissions' complained of must raise a question of constitutional interpretation that arises in considering the declaration sought, with a genuine controversy as to whether the acts or omissions are constitutionally permissible, and it is not sufficient merely to allege contravention of a constitutional provision.

Civil Procedure — Proper Parties — Legal personality as a precondition to being sued

Legal personality is a creature of statute, and only a person or body conferred with corporate legal personality may be joined as a respondent in a constitutional petition; an office such as the Chief Registrar, created by Article 145 without any conferment of corporate personality, and the Secretary of the Law Council cannot be sued, the Attorney General being their legal representative under Article 119(3).

Constitutional Law — Disguised appeal — Availability of statutory and alternative remedies

A petition that is in substance an appeal against a disciplinary decision, for which a statutory appeal lies to the High Court under section 22 of the Advocates Act and for which judicial review or enforcement of rights under Article 50 is available, is a disguised appeal which the Constitutional Court has no jurisdiction to entertain.

Legislation cited (17)

Constitution of Uganda art.137(1)
Constitution of Uganda art.137(3)(b)
Constitution of Uganda art.137(4)
Constitution of Uganda art.40(2)
Constitution of Uganda art.28(1)
Constitution of Uganda art.42
Constitution of Uganda art.43
Constitution of Uganda art.50
Constitution of Uganda art.119(3)
Constitution of Uganda art.145
Advocates Act s.7
Advocates Act s.11
Advocates Act s.20
Advocates Act s.21
Advocates Act s.22
Advocates Act s.36
Advocates Act s.46

Cases cited (8)

Gordon Sentiba and 2 Others v Inspectorate of Government (Civil Appeal No. 6 of 2018)
Attorney General v Major General David Tinyefuza (Constitutional Appeal No. 1 of 1997)
Ismail Serugo v Kampala City Council and Another (Constitutional Appeal No. 2 of 1998)
Mbabaali Jude v Hon. Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi (Constitutional Petition No. 28 of 2012)
Herman Semujju v Attorney General (Constitutional Petition No. 1 of 1998)
Charles Kabagambe v Uganda Electricity Board (Constitutional Petition No. 2 of 1999)
Paul Ssemwogerere and 2 others vs Attorney General Constitutional Petition No. of 2002
Engineer Edward Turyomurugyendo and Others v Attorney General and Others (Constitutional Petition No. 25 of 2009)

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.