REPUBLIC v. HIGH COURT, ACCRA
2019
SUPREME COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- ADINYIRA (MRS), JSC (PRESIDING)
- YEBOAH, JSC
- GBADEGBE, JSC
- MARFUL-SA
Areas of Law
- Administrative Law
- Probate and Succession
- Civil Procedure
2019
SUPREME COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The Supreme Court reviewed an application for certiorari to quash the High Court's revocation of letters of administration for Robert Habib Hitti's estate. The applicant alleged this decision was made without her involvement, breaching natural justice principles. The Court dismissed the application, citing jurisdictional limitations and affirmed that proper procedural steps were taken by the executor. They outlined that revocation is justified if obtained by someone not lawfully entitled and emphasized the narrow scope of judicial review jurisdiction.
GBADEGBE, JSC:-
We have before us in the exercise of our supervisory jurisdiction under article 132 of the Constitution an application for judicial review in the nature of certiorari directed at the judgment of the High Court, Accra dated 05 June 2018. By the said judgment, a prior order of letters of administration granted in respect of the Estate of Robert Habib Hitti (Deceased) was revoked at the instance of the interested parties herein in a case entitled: George Jamil Mougainie and Another v Alwan Robert Hitti. The grounds on which the applicant relies in support of the application are as follows:
1. The High Court, Accra presided over by Mrs. Justice Jennifer Akua Tagoe on 5th June 2018 breached the rules of natural justice and occasioned a grave miscarriage of justice when it revoked Letters of Administration granted by the High Court differently constituted on 20th June 2001 for the movable and immovable property of the late Robert Habib Hitti (Deceased); when Applicant who is a beneficiary of the Deceased’s Estate was neither made a party to the proceedings nor given any hearing in the matter.
2. The Interested Parties breached the rules of natural justice and misled the High Court, Accra into doing same when they purported to sue for the Revocation of the movable and immovable property of the late Robert Habib Hitti (Deceased) without notice to the Applicant, when they knew or ought to have known that the Deceased’s estate had been distributed pursuant to the Letters of Administration and wound up over twelve years ago.
The background to this application is stated shortly as follows. Following the death of one Robert Habib Hitti (hereinafter conveniently described as “the testator”) who was thought to have died intestate, joint letters of administration to administer his estate was granted by the High Court, Accra to the widow, Theresa Nahum Rouhana (Deceased), and the 3rd interested party herein on June 20, 2001. According to the applicant, in the exercise of the said authority the administrators took several steps in the discharge of their functions as such and had the estate wound up in or about 2002. Subsequently, a document purporting to be the last will of the testator was discovered resulting in an application being filed by the first and second interested parties herein for probate before an Accra High Court in a suit numbered as PA1603/2017. The pendency of the said application for probate having come to the attention of the applic