Prime
Lands registration commissioner fined Shs60m for contempt of court
What you need to know:
- Through her lawyers, Ms Kigongo told court that the refusal by the Commissioner to register her on the property is in blatant contempt of court, which prevented her from enjoying the fruits of the judgment.
Court has ordered the Commissioner for land registration to pay Shs 60 million in damages for defying a court order.
In April 2017, the High Court ordered the commissioner for land registration to register Ms Olive Kigongo and her husband Moses Kigongo on the property in Kololo.
Ms Kigongo sued the Commissioner for failure to comply with the court order, which is still valid and effective.
Through her lawyers, Ms Kigongo told court that the refusal by the Commissioner to register her on the property is in blatant contempt of court, which prevented her from enjoying the fruits of the judgment.
In the ruling, Justice Alexandra Nkonge Rugadya, directed the commissioner to exercise the powers under section 177 of the Registration of Titles Act (RTA) after notification is made to the proprietor of Plot No.29 Kololo Hill Drive.
The court ruled that the commissioner for land registration had both the mandate and ability but only made a half-hearted attempt thus not executing the court order.
“Upon failure to receive any response from the proprietor within three weeks of writing to him, the commissioner shall substitute such certificate of title or entry as the circumstances of the case may require for the purpose of giving effect to the decree,” Justice Nkonge ruled.
She added: “Should the commissioner, Land Registration fail to act in compliance with the orders of this court within 45 days after the delivery of this ruling, it is then that the warrant of arrest shall be issued against the holder of that office for civil prison for a period of six months.”
According to the court, Ms Kigongo complained that the Commissioner for land registration had the ability to comply with the court order and that there was nothing hindering it from doing so.
The judge held that the court could not agree more that indeed the Commissioner holds the special powers to deal with the matter without any recourse to the court.
Court records show that the duplicate certificate was in the custody of Mr Moses Kigongo whom the Commissioner had since contacted to avail the same in vain.
In 2015 Mr Kigongo sued to evict his estranged partner Olive from a house on plot 13, Kololo Hill Drive, however Olive argued that the house in contention was their “matrimonial” home thus court ruling in her favor to stay in the house.
Justice Godfrey Namundi ruled that the house is co-owned by the two and issued a permanent injunction stopping Moses or his agents from evicting Olive from the house.
