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April 4, 2023
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
MOTION ON NOTICE TO RAISE PRELIMINARY LEGAL OBJECTION TO THE PLAINTIFF’S SUIT
Counsel for the 1st and 2nd Defendants Your Ladyship, respectfully, we pray that the suit be dismissed because the Court has no jurisdiction as provided in my legal argument.
Your Ladyship, we refer to Exhibit L which is dated at 28/06/2021; that is the statutory notice and thus the suit should have been commenced on or before 29/06/2023. Counsel for the Plaintiff 1. A party who seeks to set aside the writ cannot do so on the basis of criminal legal objection.
It should be done in accordance with Order 9 Rule 8 of C. I. 47. 2. The section being relied upon Section 210 (1) does not contain an expiration date for the notice, but only provides a date of one month for the commencement of the action 3. Your Ladyship, on Section 210(3), the action complained of is still continuing and thus the averment in our Statement of Claim and also in our application for Interlocutory Injunction clearly shows that the 1st and 2nd Defendants using the 3rd Defendant are continuing the damage as the subject matter of this suit is concerned.
For which reason an Interlocutory Injunction application was filed to restrain them which has not been moved and pending before this Court.
Counsel for the 1st and 2nd Defendants Your Ladyship, in direct response to the Plaintiff’s submission that the Preliminary Objection cannot be used to dismiss a suit is a complete misstatement of the law.
Your Ladyship, there is a difference between dismissal of the suit stricto sensu and setting aside the Writ of Summons.
Your Ladyship, the law is settled that matters of jurisdiction of a Court can be raised at any point.
Once the Court is seized with a matter and its jurisdiction is challenged and the issues being an issue of law can be raised at anything time.
In this case what we are saying is that this Court has no jurisdiction in this matter and our argument for lack of jurisdiction are sufficiently captured in our legal submission.
BY COURT Section 210 of the Local Governance Act, 2016 (Act 936) is as follows: (1) A suit shall not be commenced against a District Assembly until at least one month after a written notice of intention to commence the suit has been served on the District Assembly by the intending plaintiff or an agent of the plaintiff.
The Notice shall state the cause of action, the names and place of abode of the intending plaintiff and the relief which the plaintiff claim.
An action shal
AI Generated Summary
The High Court, presided over by Her Ladyship Justice Enyonam Adinyira, determined a motion on notice seeking dismissal of a suit against a District Assembly for want of jurisdiction. The 1st and 2nd Defendants argued that Section 210 of the Local Governance Act, 2016 (Act 936) imposed mandatory preconditions—one-month notice and a twelve-month limitation—that were not satisfied. The Plaintiff responded that Section 210(1) imposes no expiry on the statutory notice, claimed continuing injury under Section 210(3), and contended that any challenge to the writ must proceed under Order 9 Rule 8 of C.I. 47 rather than by preliminary objection. The Court found the alleged acts occurred between November 2020 and June 2021, the statutory notice was served on 29 June 2021, and the writ was filed on 30 January 2023. Treating Section 210 as mandatory and citing Boyefio v NTHC Properties Ltd, the Court held it lacked jurisdiction, upheld the preliminary objection, dismissed the suit, and awarded costs of GH¢2,500.