Wakilii

Jinja Municipal Council & v Registered Trustees Of Indian Recreation Club & Anor (Misc. Applic. No 66 Of 2004) (Misc. Applic. No 66 of 2004)

High Court · [2009] UGHC 210 · 2009 Application Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Application to set aside consent judgment and review decree arising from H.C.C.S. No. 0108 of 2002
Decision
Application to set aside and review consent judgment dismissed; applicants advised of alternative remedies including objector proceedings and fresh action to challenge repossession certificate

Observed later treatment

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Holding

The High Court held that the applicants lacked locus standi to apply for review of a consent judgment under s.82 Civil Procedure Act because they were not parties to the original suit and did not suffer a legal grievance directly affected by the decree. The court further held that the applicants failed to show fraud, mistake, misapprehension or contravention of court policy sufficient to set aside the consent judgment under Order 9 rule 9 CPR, as full disclosure of relevant facts including the applicants' position had been made to the court before the consent judgment was entered.

Outcome

Application to set aside and review consent judgment dismissed; applicants advised of alternative remedies including objector proceedings and fresh action to challenge repossession certificate

Facts

The 1st respondent obtained a lease over land registered as LRV 421 Folio 4, Plots 17-27 Gabula Road, Jinja from the 1st applicant as controlling authority, with an extension granted in 1961 for 49 years. Following expropriation and subsequent return of properties to former Asian owners, the 1st respondent obtained a repossession certificate which was erroneously cancelled by the Minister of Finance. The 1st respondent sued the Attorney General seeking reinstatement of the certificate. Meanwhile, the applicants had re-occupied the property claiming the lease had expired and they had obtained an allocation from the District Land Board. A consent judgment was entered between the 1st and 2nd respondents reinstating the repossession certificate, without the applicants' participation. The applicants then sought to set aside and review that consent judgment, claiming they were in lawful occupation, had made improvements to the property, and that the consent judgment was obtained by fraud or mistake.

Issues

  1. Whether the applicants had the locus standi to originate and maintain the application to review or set aside the consent judgment.
  2. Whether the applicants were aggrieved by the consent judgment and decree entered into by the 1st and 2nd respondents.
  3. Whether there were sufficient reasons for reviewing or setting aside the consent judgment and decree.
  4. What reliefs and remedies are available to the applicants.

Orders

  • Application dismissed.
  • Costs awarded to the respondents.

Rules and key headnotes

Review of Judgments — Locus Standi of Third Parties
A third party seeking review of a judgment under s.82 Civil Procedure Act must be a person aggrieved by the decree or order, meaning one who has suffered a legal grievance — a person against whom a decision has been pronounced which has wrongfully deprived them of something or wrongfully affected their title to something. An order or decree against a person who is not a party thereto is not on general principles of law binding on them, and such a person cannot ordinarily have a legal grievance against the decree or order and consequently cannot apply for review.
Setting Aside Consent Judgments — Grounds and Locus Standi
A consent judgment may be set aside under Order 9 rule 9 (now rule 12) Civil Procedure Rules on limited grounds that would enable a court to set aside an agreement: fraud, mistake, misapprehension or contravention of court policy. A third party with a direct interest in the matter who has been injuriously affected by a consent judgment may apply to set it aside, similar to the setting aside of an ex parte judgment, but must establish one of the recognised grounds.
Consent Judgments — Nature and Effect
A consent decree is passed on terms of a new contract between the parties to the consent judgment and must be upheld unless it is vitiated by fraud, mistake, misapprehension or contravention of court policy. The consent judgment creates a binding agreement between the parties who entered into it.
Leases — Binding Effect of Unregistered Leases
A lease is a contract and once entered into, binds the parties whether registered and a certificate of title issued or not, provided the contract was complete with all payments done. Where a controlling authority granted a lease extension and subsequently issued occupation permits to the lessee, the authority is estopped from terminating the lease merely because it had not been registered.
Setting Aside Judgments — Full Disclosure Negating Fraud or Mistake
Where full and frank disclosure of all material facts, including third party interests, was made to the court before a consent judgment was entered, and the court considered the grievances of all parties who would be affected, there is no fraud, mistake or misapprehension sufficient to set aside the consent judgment, even where a third party claims to have been adversely affected.
Expropriated Properties — Repossession Certificates and Third Party Rights
A third party claiming rights over expropriated property has alternative remedies where a repossession certificate has been issued to the original owner, including objector proceedings to prevent eviction, a fresh action to challenge the repossession certificate with an application for injunction, appeal against grant of the certificate under s.15 Expropriated Properties Act, and remedies from Government under s.12 of the Act.

Legislation cited (13)

Cases cited (3)

  • Ladak Abdulla Mohamed Hussein v Griffiths Isingoma Kakiiza & 2 Others (SCCA No. 8 of 1995)
  • Attorney General & Uganda Land Commission v James Mark Kamoga & Another (SCCA No. 8 of 2004)
  • Sanyu Lwanga Musoke v. Yakobo Ntate Mayanja [1995-96] EA, 205

Full judgment

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

Jinja Municipal Council & Vs Registered Trustees Of Indian Recreation Club & Anor (Misc. Applic. No 66 Of 2004) (Misc. Applic. No 66 of 2004) [2009] UGHC 210 (15 December 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.