REPUBLIC v. HIGH COURT, ACCRA: EX PARTE SINARE AND OTHER
1991
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
- ESSIEM
- AMUAH
- KPEGAH JJ.A
Areas of Law
- Civil Procedure
- Evidence Law
1991
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The Court of Appeal overturned the High Court's quashing of a rent magistrate's order that had set aside an ejectment order obtained by fraud. The High Court had erred in quashing the magistrate's ruling, as fraud was established and unrefuted. Additionally, the district court was not functus officio, as it still had pending matters concerning the tenants property. The case emphasized that judgments obtained by fraud are inherently void and can be set aside by courts of concurrent jurisdiction. The appeal was allowed, underscoring that fraud vitiates all legal proceedings.
JUDGMENT OF ESSIEM J.A.
This is an appeal from the ruling of the High Court, Accra constituted by Mrs Sawyerr-Williams Ag. J. by which the learned judge quashed by certiorari an order of the rent magistrate which set aside an order for forcible ejectment of a tenant. That order was set aside on the ground that it had been obtained by fraud.
The record shows that after the order for forcible ejectment had been executed, the tenant, who is the interested party-appellant before us, applied unsuccessfully to set aside the execution. The record does not disclose the basis for the application, but learned counsel for the respondent in his submissions before the High Court indicated that the application was based on an allegation of fraud.
Subsequent to this refusal, the chief rent officer, upon whose recommendation the order for forcible ejectment was made, informed the district court writing that the recommendation he made to the court for an order of forcible ejectment was based on a false affidavit which the landlord swore in support of his application to the rent officer for the forcible ejectment of the tenant.
The landlord had sworn that the tenant had absconded from the premises for about two years and his whereabouts were unknown to him and also that the tenant owed two years' rent. The chief rent officer's letter showed that these facts were false to the knowledge of the landlord. The chief rent officer therefore informed the rent magistrate that the recommendation his office sent to the court was obtained by deceit and that the court should set aside the order for forcible ejectment. The request went before another rent magistrate who found from the evidence before him that the order for forcible ejectment was indeed obtained by fraud and set it aside.
The order of the court did not please the landlord, who is the respondent before this court. Accordingly, the respondent on 4 October 1989 filed an application ex parte at the High Court, Accra for leave to apply for an order of prohibition and certiorari directed at the District Court Magistrate, City Court, Accra. On 5 October 1989, the High Court, Accra granted the application in the following terms:
"By court: Leave granted as prayed for. Applicant to apply for an order of prohibition and certiorari to be directed at the District Magistrate, City Court, Accra. This leave should act as stay of execution."
Subsequent to this leave, the respondent, by his solicitor, applied on notice for an order