Wakilii

Munazzanati Al Dawa Al Islamiya v Zuena said Hassan and Another (Labour Dispute Miscellaneous Application 173 of 2021)

Industrial Court · [2024] UGIC 47 · 2024 Application Partly Allowed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Application under Order 50 Rule 8 CPR to set aside Registrar's award of costs in execution proceedings
Decision
Application partly allowed — costs award set aside but Respondents entitled to file bill of costs for taxation

Observed later treatment

Cited — treatment unverified cited in 1 (treatment unverified) Sequitur — Uganda’s citator · Derived from citing cases in the Wakilii corpus — not an assertion that this case is good law.

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.

No adverse treatment recorded Cited 1 time with no adverse treatment recorded; not yet tested on the merits. Derived from citing cases in the Wakilii corpus — a deterministic signal, not legal advice.

AI-generated summary. This summary was generated by AI from the full text of the judgment. It may contain errors or omissions—always read the source judgment before relying on it.

Holding

The court held that a Registrar has discretion to award costs even without a specific request from the successful party, and costs can be awarded in execution proceedings. However, costs must be taxed in accordance with the Advocates Act before a specific sum is imposed. The award of UGX 1,000,000 was set aside and the Respondents were directed to file a bill of costs for taxation.

Outcome

Application partly allowed — costs award set aside but Respondents entitled to file bill of costs for taxation

Facts

The Respondents were former employees of the Applicant who obtained an award from a Labour Officer on 6 June 2019 for UGX 19,040,000 as severance pay, payment in lieu of notice, and compensatory orders. The Respondents filed Miscellaneous Application No. 139 of 2019 to execute the award. The Applicant informed the Registrar that it had filed an appeal and sought to stay execution. The Registrar ruled that no stay application had been filed for nearly two years, that an appeal does not automatically stay execution, and granted the execution application with costs of UGX 1,000,000. The Applicant then filed the present application to set aside the costs award, arguing that costs had not been prayed for and that no costs are provided for in execution proceedings.

Issues

  1. Whether the Registrar erred in awarding costs when the Respondents had not specifically prayed for costs.
  2. Whether costs can be awarded in execution proceedings.
  3. Whether the quantum of UGX 1,000,000 in costs should have been taxed before being awarded.

Orders

  • The order awarding UGX 1,000,000 in costs is set aside.
  • The Respondents are directed to file a bill of costs for the execution of LDMA 139 of 2019 for taxation.
  • No order as to costs of this application.

Rules and key headnotes

Civil Procedure — Costs — Discretion to Award Costs — Court's Power to Award Costs Without Specific Prayer
A court has discretion under section 27(1) of the Civil Procedure Act to award costs to a successful party even where that party has not specifically prayed for costs, and an appellate court will only interfere with such discretion if it was exercised injudiciously or on a wrong principle.
Civil Procedure — Execution — Costs of Execution Proceedings — Availability of Costs
Costs are available in execution proceedings because the process of execution commences with the filing of an application for execution under Order 22 Rule 8 CPR, and the prescribed forms in Appendix D expressly provide for 'the costs of taking out this execution'.
Civil Procedure — Costs — Taxation of Costs — Requirement for Taxation Before Award
Where a court awards costs, section 38 of the Advocates Act requires that the costs be taxed on a party-to-party basis in accordance with the Sixth Schedule to the Advocates Act, and it is improper to impose a specific sum without taxation.
Employment & Labour — Costs in Employment Disputes — Considerations for Awarding Costs
In employment disputes, fault and misconduct are key considerations when awarding costs, and costs may be denied where the exercise of discretion by a lower court was not the fault of the successful party.

Legislation cited (7)

Cases cited (7)

Cases citing this judgment (1)

How later Ugandan judgments in the Wakilii corpus have cited this case. Treatment labels come from Sequitur — Uganda’s citator — each backed by a verbatim span from the citing judgment, and are not an assertion that this case is, or is not, good law.

Full judgment

↓ Download PDF

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

Munazzanati_Al_Dawa_Al_Islamiya_v_Zuena_said_Hassan_and_Another_(Labour_Dispute_Miscellaneous_Application_173_of_2021)_[2024]_UGIC_47_(30_September_2024)
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.