Wakilii

Devraj v Patel (Civil Appeal No. 16 of 1955)

East African Court of Appeal · [1955] EACA 143 · 1955 Appeal Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Appeal from decision of Central Rent Control Board ordering tenant to vacate premises
Decision
Order of Central Rent Control Board requiring tenant to vacate premises upheld

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

A statutory tribunal does not lose jurisdiction merely by a change in its composition during a hearing, provided it maintains the required quorum. Where evidence is part-heard and the tribunal composition changes, the proper course is to rehear the evidence, but failure to do so constitutes an irregularity rather than a jurisdictional defect. Such irregularity amounts to a failure in natural justice warranting appellate intervention only if the new member was unable to observe witness demeanour at a critical time or relied on a defective record. Here, the deputy chairman heard the landlord's full cross-examination and re-examination, and the landlord substantially reiterated the material evidence, so no failure in natural justice occurred.

Outcome

Order of Central Rent Control Board requiring tenant to vacate premises upheld

Facts

The Central Rent Control Board sat to hear a landlord's application for possession of premises, composed of a chairman and two ordinary members. The landlord began giving evidence but the hearing was adjourned before his examination-in-chief was complete. A year later, the Board reconvened with the same two ordinary members but with the deputy chairman substituted for the chairman. The deputy chairman stated he would read the record and proceed; no objection was taken. The hearing continued with the landlord completing his evidence, including substantially reiterating the important parts of his earlier testimony. The Board, having found the landlord credible, ordered the tenant to vacate. The tenant appealed, arguing that the change in the Board's composition caused a loss of jurisdiction and a failure in natural justice.

Issues

  1. Whether a change in the composition of the Rent Control Board during a hearing causes an ex lege loss of jurisdiction.
  2. Whether a change in the composition of the Board during a hearing constitutes a failure in natural justice.
  3. Whether the irregularity of proceeding with a changed Board composition, where one member had not heard part of a witness's evidence, is sufficient to warrant appellate intervention.

Orders

  • Appeal dismissed.

Rules and key headnotes

Administrative Law — Statutory Tribunals — Composition and Quorum — Jurisdiction
A statutory tribunal established with a specified composition and quorum has jurisdiction whenever the statutory quorum is present, and does not lose jurisdiction ex lege merely by a change in its composition during the course of a hearing.
Administrative Law — Statutory Tribunals — Procedure — Change of Composition During Hearing
Where a statutory tribunal's composition changes after evidence has been part-heard, the proper course is to rehear the evidence, but if the changed tribunal elects to proceed, this constitutes an irregularity rather than a jurisdictional defect, and is not of itself sufficiently gross to warrant appellate intervention unless there has been a failure in natural justice.
Administrative Law — Natural Justice — Assessment of Witness Credibility — Tribunal Member Not Present
Where a tribunal must form an opinion as to the credibility of a witness and there is a change in the tribunal's composition during the hearing such that a new member is not in a position to observe the demeanour of the witness at the time that opinion could properly be formed, any finding on the credibility of that witness may be so unreliable as to amount to a failure in natural justice, leading to reversal by an appellate court.
Administrative Law — Natural Justice — Reliance on Record of Evidence Not Heard
If a new member of a tribunal has had his mind affected by reading a faulty, insufficient, or misleading record of evidence which he was not present to hear, any finding based on that evidence may be so unreliable as to amount to a failure of natural justice.
Administrative Law — Statutory Tribunals — Irregularity — Degrees of Gravity
An irregularity in tribunal procedure may be sufficiently gross to cause not only injustice but also loss of jurisdiction, as would occur if a member of the tribunal who had not heard any of the important evidence contributed to a finding, but lesser irregularities do not have this effect.
Landlord and Tenant — Rent Control — Rent Control Board — Jurisdiction and Procedure
The Central Rent Control Board established under the Increase of Rent (Restriction) Ordinance 1949 has a statutory composition requiring a chairman or deputy chairman and a quorum, and the Board functions and delivers its decisions as a unit which retains jurisdiction so long as it is properly constituted at any given moment.

Legislation cited (3)

  • Increase of Rent (Restriction) Ordinance, 1949 s.4
  • Civil Procedure (Revised) Rules, 1948 Order 17 rule 10
  • Matrimonial Causes Rules, 1937 rule 67(6)

Cases cited (7)

  • Coleshill v Manchester Corporation (1928) 44 TLR 258
  • Re Application of British Reinforced Concrete Engineering Co Ltd (1929) 45 TLR 186
  • Joseph v Joseph (1948) 117 LJR 513
  • Fulker v Fulker (1936) 3 AER 636
  • Whittle v Whittle (1939) 1 AER 374
  • Knott v Knott (1935) P 158
  • Meghji Karman v Koramshi Devraj (Civil Appeal No. 736 of 1951)

Full judgment

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

Devraj v Patel (Civil Appeal No. 16 of 1955) [1955] EACA 143 (1 January 1955)
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.