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April 25, 2023
CIRCUIT COURT
GHANA
CORAM
RULING
1.0 Plaintiff/Applicant by the motion filed on 9th February, 2023, the attached
affidavit and annexures as well as supplementary affidavit filed on 3rd April,
2023, is seeking an order for interlocutory injunction to restrain the defendants,
their servants, agents, assigns, privies, successors, contractors, workmen and all
those claiming through them from developing and/or alienating any portion of
the land in dispute until the final determination of the suit.
2.0 Defendants have vehemently opposed the application by the affidavit in
opposition filed on 27th February, 2023 and its annexures as well as
supplementary affidavit filed on 8th March, 2023.
3.0 The application has been brought by plaintiff on the ground, inter alia, that he
acquired the land in dispute in 2015/16 from the Odai Ntow Family of Accra,
who by its joint accredited representatives and/or heads, executed a formal lease
in his favour, effective 24th October, 2017. After the purchase of the land, he took
possession of same and exercised acts of control until defendants interfered with
same on 22nd November, 2022.
4.0 It is plaintiff’s case that defendants had recently entered onto the land with thugs
and a bulldozer and raised down his entire structures on the land and are busily
constructing a wall to seal the access to the property.
5.0 Defendants on the other hand, inter alia, trace their root of title through a Deed
of Assignment dated 17th April, 2011 and that the Assignee went into immediate
possession thereof, who further obtained a Land Title Certificate. It is
defendants’ case that a foundation structure defendants had constructed on the
land was destroyed by thugs in 2021 acting on the orders of plaintiff.
6.0 Order 25 Rule 1 of the High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2004 (C.I. 47),
provides that the court may grant an injunction by an interlocutory order in all
cases in which it appears to the court to be just and convenient to do so. The
order may be made either unconditionally or upon such terms and conditions as
the court considers just. Thus, in all cases, the decision to grant or refuse the
application involves the exercise of judicial discretion as to whether it is just and
convenient to do so.
7.0 In an application of this nature the court ought to refrain from expressing an
opinion on the merits of the case. The paramount principle has always been
whether the applicant by his pleadings and the affidavits has established a legal o
AI Generated Summary
Her Honour Mawusi Bedjrah of the High Court ruled on an interlocutory injunction application arising from a contested land ownership dispute in Accra. The applicant, Daniel Ahene Mensah, asserts he acquired the property from the Odai Ntow Family under a lease effective 24 October 2017 and took possession, but the defendants allegedly entered on 22 November 2022 with thugs and a bulldozer, demolished structures, and began constructing a wall. The defendants claim title via a 17 April 2011 Deed of Assignment, immediate possession, and a Land Title Certificate, and allege their foundation was destroyed by thugs in 2021 acting under Mensah’s orders. Applying Order 25 rule 1 (C.I. 47) and established interlocutory principles from OWUSU v OWUSU ANSAH and VANDERPUYE v NARTEY, the court found the application neither frivolous nor vexatious and that a legal or equitable right warranted protection. To preserve the status quo, the judge restrained both parties from developing or interfering with the land pending trial, required the plaintiff to give an undertaking in damages, and directed counsel to expedite the proceedings.