Wakilii

Mansukhlal Ramji Karia and Another v Attorney General and Others (Civil Appeal 20 of 2002)

Supreme Court · [2004] UGSC 47 · 2004 Appeal Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Second civil appeal from the Court of Appeal, originating from a High Court suit instituted under section 15 of the Expropriated Properties Act challenging a ministerial repossession decision
Decision
Appeal dismissed; the appellants held bound by the prior determination that the suit land remained vested in Government, and to have acquired no valid title

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

The Supreme Court held it had jurisdiction: a challenge under section 15 of the Expropriated Properties Act is in substance an ordinary suit (Regulation 15 applies the Civil Procedure Rules), not a judicial appeal, so the matter could progress to the Supreme Court. On the merits, the trial court and Court of Appeal erred in barring the appellants by res judicata, as neither was a party to Civil Appeal No. 36 of 1996 and that issue was never tried (ground one upheld). However, that earlier decision was a judgment in rem determining the status of the suit land as vested in Government under Act 9 of 1982, binding even strangers; the appellants acquired no valid title and had no cause of action. The appeal was dismissed.

Outcome

Appeal dismissed; the appellants held bound by the prior determination that the suit land remained vested in Government, and to have acquired no valid title

Facts

The suit land (Plot 13, Market Street, Kampala) was registered to Makerere Properties Ltd (R2) in 1960. R2's directors, the Pirani brothers, were expelled during the 1972 Asian expulsion and the land vested in Government under the Departed Asians Property Decree. In 1981 the Custodian Board provisionally returned the land to R2 following a claim by Sadrudin, a director. Sadrudin manipulated R2's shareholding, then sold the land to the first appellant, who was registered in 1982. The Expropriated Properties Act 1982 (Act 9 of 1982) then came into force, nullifying dealings effected between 1973 and February 1983. A High Court company cause found Sadrudin's share transfers fraudulent. The Minister later cancelled the first appellant's repossession certificate (No. 0607) and issued a fresh certificate to R2. The land had meanwhile passed through several transferees to the second appellant. The appellants sued, claiming the Minister lacked power to cancel certificate No. 0607.

Issues

  1. Whether the appeal was properly before the Supreme Court, that is, whether the appellants had an unrestricted right of appeal where the High Court matter was an 'appeal' under section 15 of the Expropriated Properties Act.
  2. Whether a challenge to the Minister's decision brought under section 15 of the Expropriated Properties Act is in substance an ordinary suit or a judicial appeal.
  3. Whether the decision in Civil Appeal No. 36 of 1996 operated as res judicata against the appellants, who were not parties to it.
  4. Whether the plaint disclosed a cause of action against the second and third respondents, who made no decision under the Act.
  5. Whether the appellants were aggrieved parties with a subsisting interest in the suit land at the time the Minister cancelled the repossession certificate.

Orders

  • Appeal dismissed.
  • Two thirds of the costs awarded to the respondents in the Supreme Court and in the courts below.

Rules and key headnotes

Statutory Interpretation — Meaning of 'appeal' — Challenge to ministerial decision under Expropriated Properties Act s.15
A challenge to a decision of the Minister under section 15 of the Expropriated Properties Act, though described by the statute as an 'appeal', is in substance an ordinary suit, because Regulation 15 of the Expropriated Properties (Repossession and Disposal) Regulations applies the Rules of Civil Procedure governing the institution of suits to such proceedings.
Administrative Law — Ministerial decision — Non-judicial character — Right of appeal to Supreme Court
Where a person institutes proceedings under section 15 of the Expropriated Properties Act to challenge an administrative decision of the Minister, and the Act neither prohibits nor restricts further appeal, the Supreme Court is competent to hear and determine a subsequent appeal as a second appeal under section 6(1) of the Judicature Act and Article 132(2) of the Constitution.
Civil Procedure — Res judicata — Conditions — Issue must be tried and parties identical or claiming under same title
A plea of res judicata under section 7 of the Civil Procedure Act cannot succeed where the parties to the earlier suit are not the same as, nor claiming under, the parties in the later suit, and where, the issue being contested, the trial court received no evidence establishing the relationship between them; res judicata is an issue that must be tried, not assumed from pleadings and the earlier judgment alone.
Land & Property — Judgment in rem — Status of property — Binding on strangers to the litigation
A judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction determining the status of property is a judgment in rem and is conclusive against all the world as to that status; accordingly a determination that expropriated land remained vested in Government under the Expropriated Properties Act binds even persons who were not parties to the proceedings in which it was made.
Land & Property — Title — Nullification of dealings under Expropriated Properties Act s.2 — Effect on subsequent transferees
Under section 2 of the Expropriated Properties Act 1982, any purchase, transfer or grant of expropriated property effected between 1973 and 21 February 1983 is nullified; a transferee acquiring under such a void transaction, and every subsequent purchaser in the chain of title, takes no valid title.
Administrative Law — Aggrieved person — Subsisting legal interest required
A person is an aggrieved party entitled to challenge a ministerial decision only where that person has a subsisting legal interest directly affected by the decision; a party who had already parted with the property, or who held no valid title, is not an aggrieved person and discloses no cause of action.

Legislation cited (22)

Cases cited (18)

  • Habre International Co. Ltd v Ebrahim Alarakhia Kassim & Others (Civil Appeal No. 14 of 1999)
  • Mohan Musisi Kiwanuka Vs Asha Chand Civil Appeal No.14 of 2002 (unreported)
  • Hem Singh v Mahant Basant (1935) 1 All ER 355 (PC)
  • Secretary of State for India v Chelikani Rama Rao (1915) LR 43 Ind App 192
  • Mityana Ginners Ltd v Public Health Officer, Kampala (1958) EA 339
  • National Telephone Co v Postmaster General (1913) AC 546
  • Famous Cycles Agencies Ltd & 4 others Vs Mansukhlal Ramji Karia & 2 others Civil Appeal No.15 of 1994 / Civil Appeal No.16 of 1994
  • United Assurance Co. Ltd v Attorney General (Civil Appeal No. 1 of 1986)
  • Meraj Shariff v Store (1960) EA 374
  • Departed Asians Property Custodian Board v Jaffer Brothers Ltd (Civil Appeal No. 9 of 1998)
  • Ladak A. Mohamed Hussein v Griffiths Kakiiza & 2 Others (Civil Appeal No. 8 of 1995)
  • Yahaya Kiriisa v Attorney General (Civil Appeal No. 7 of 1994)
  • Mohamed Allibhai v W.T. Bukenya and DAPC Board (Civil Appeal No. 56 of 1995)
  • Habre International Ltd v Francis Rutagarama (Civil Appeal No. 3 of 1999)
  • Gokaldas Laximidas Tanna v Sr. Rosemary Muyinza and Departed Asians Property Custodian Board (Civil Appeal No. 12 of 1992)
  • Ismail Karshe v Uganda Transport Ltd (HCCS No. 553 of 1965)
  • Makerere Properties Ltd v Attorney General (Civil Appeal No. 36 of 1996)
  • Amin Mohamed Abdulaziz Pirani v Mansukhlal Ramji Karia & 2 Others (Company Cause No. 2 of 1992)

Full judgment

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Mansukhlal Ramji Karia and Another v Attorney General and Others (Civil Appeal 20 of 2002) [2004] UGSC 47 (16 December 2004)
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.