Atananzio Betubiza v Centenary Bank and Another (Civil Appeal No 224 of 2018)

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

Citator coverage is limited to judgments in the Wakilii corpus and source-matched treatment records. Absence of a signal is not an assertion that the case remains good law.

Holding

The appellant, having filed his Record of Appeal out of time, applied for extension of time and validation of the appeal. The Court had directed him to file submissions within set timelines, warning that non-compliance would result in dismissal. More than two months later the appellant had taken no steps to comply and the application remained wholly unprosecuted. The Court held the appeal was incompetent and incurably defective, dismissed the application for extension of time and validation for want of prosecution, and consequently struck out the appeal. As the respondents did not attend the hearing, no order was made as to costs.

Outcome

Application for extension of time and validation dismissed for want of prosecution; appeal struck out

Facts

The appellant brought a second appeal challenging High Court and Magistrate's Court decisions arising from the 2006 sale of his mortgaged land by Centenary Bank to the second respondent following a loan default. He had filed his Record of Appeal out of time and applied for an extension of time and validation of the appellate documents. When the appeal came up on 12 November 2025, the application remained pending and neither party had filed submissions. The Court directed the appellant to file submissions within one week, with a warning that failure to comply would result in dismissal, and adjourned for ruling. More than two months later, the appellant had filed nothing and taken no steps to prosecute the application.

Issues

1. Whether the appellant's application for extension of time and validation of the appeal should be granted where he failed to prosecute it and to comply with the Court's directions on filing submissions.

Orders

• The application for extension of time and validation of the appeal is dismissed for want of prosecution.
• The appeal, having been filed out of time and never validated, is struck out.
• No order as to costs.

Rules and key headnotes

Legislation cited (10)

• Judicature (Court of Appeal) Rules r.2(2)
• Judicature (Court of Appeal) Rules r.5
• Judicature (Court of Appeal) Rules r.43
• Judicature (Court of Appeal) Rules r.44
• Judicature (Court of Appeal) Rules r.50
• Judicature (Court of Appeal) Rules r.76(4)
• Civil Procedure Rules Order 51 r.6
• Civil Procedure Act s.98
• Judicature Act s.33
• Constitution of Uganda Article 126(2)(e)

The original judgment as reported. Read the original PDF before relying on any passage.