DARA-SALAM ESTATE DEVELOPERS VS MINISTRY OF WATER RESOURCES WORKS & HOUSING & ANOR.
2018
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- HER LADYSHIP JUSTICE MRS. JANAPARE A. BARTELS-KODWO
Areas of Law
- Civil Procedure
- Evidence Law
- Property and Real Estate Law
2018
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The Plaintiff, as Head of Family of the late Daniel Botchway, claimed the conveyance of a land to Emmanuel Stevens was a forgery. The Defendants argued they legally acquired and were in possession of the land. The court ruled that the Plaintiff’s action was statute-barred, he was estopped from claiming the land, and failed to prove forgery beyond a reasonable doubt. The case was dismissed with costs awarded to the Defendants.
Plaintiff as Head of Family of the late Daniel Seth Botchway issued a Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim against the Defendants on 19th June 2012 for the following reliefs:
1. A declaration that a purported conveyance of a piece or parcel of land situate lying and being at Chuim-Odorkor, Accra covering an approximate area of 0.18 acre and particularly described in the statement of claim by late Daniel Seth Botchway to the late Emmanuel Amukwei Akushey-Stevens is forgery and as such null and void.
2. Recovery of possession.
3. An order directed to the Lands Commission (Registration Division) to cancel the land registration No. 1238/1973 in the name of the late Emmanuel Amukwei Akushey-Stevens.
BRIEF FACTS: The Plaintiff, who is the head of the family of the late Daniel Seth Botchway, avers that the late Daniel Seth Botchway acquired the land in dispute in 1961 from the Gbawe Tawiah Family. The late Daniel Botchway registered the said transaction and farmed on the land but did not have money to develop it. The Plaintiff avers that the late Daniel Botchway became blind in 1972 and died in 1984. The Plaintiff avers that after Daniel Botchway became blind, the surveyor for the Gbawe Tawiah Family, called William Akushey Stevens, attempted to enter the land but was warned off by the Gbawe Tawiah Family because of their prior sale to Daniel Seth Botchway. The Plaintiff says they later found out that the land had been registered in the name of Emmanuel Amukwei Stevens, a brother of the Gbawe Tawiah surveyor, William Akushey Stevens.
It is the Plaintiff’s case that the purported deed could not have been signed by the late Daniel Botchway because at the date that deed was executed, Daniel Botchway was blind and therefore Daniel Seth Botchway’s signature was forged. The Plaintiff says about two years prior to instituting this action, he noticed some mechanics on the land who said it was the 2nd Defendant who gave them permission to be there. The Plaintiff said he sought the help of the Gbawe Tawiah Family, Daniel Botchway’s grantors, to clear the mechanics from the land.
The Defendants’ case is that the land belongs to their late brother and husband’s father who acquired the land from Daniel Seth Botchway and have been in possession since 1973 and that the Plaintiff’s action is statute barred under section 10 of the Limitation Decree 1975. The Defendants say the registration of Emmanuel Amukwei Stevens under the Land Registry Act constitutes notice to th