November 12, 2008
SUPREME COURT
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The Supreme Court of Ghana, per Anin Yeboah J.S.C., allowed the appeal of KNUST students dismissed by letters from the Registrar acting on the Vice-Chancellors instructions. The dismissals were justified as necessary for campus safety, but the appellants contended there was no Committee of Enquiry as required by Article 7 of the Students Guide and no hearing was afforded. The University claimed a committee existed and relied on an interim report signed by the Head of Security, yet produced no details of composition, terms of reference, or proceedings. Emphasizing natural justice and s.17(1) of the Evidence Act, the Court held KNUST, a statutory body performing public functions, is amenable to judicial review, rejected the Court of Appeals view that certiorari was inappropriate, and set aside the dismissals for breach of due process.
ANIN YEBOAH, J.S.C:
This is an appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal dated the 28th February, 2008. The appellants were at the time material to this action, students of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology at Kumasi pursuing various degree courses.
On the 25th August, 2006, the Registrar of the University (the respondent herein) acting on the instructions of the Vice – Chancellor wrote to each of the appellants dismissing all of them from the University. The affidavit which supported the application at the High Court was sworn to by one Jamal Anabio, a law clerk of the solicitor who initiated the proceedings for Judicial Review. The basis for the application was that the applicants had on 26th August, 2006 proceeded on vacation. On 26th August 2006, the Registrar of the University wrote a letter to each to the appellants herein, dismissing them from the University. The letter claimed that the appellants were dismissed because their continued stay or presence in the university poses a great risk to the university community. The first appellant in response to the letter of dismissal on 6th September 2006 wrote to the Registrar insisting on his innocence and demanded reinstatement. The Registrar never replied to the letter. The parents of the appellants who naturally felt aggrieved by the dismissals came down from Nigeria and requested to meet the Vice – Chancellor of the university. They could not meet the Vice – Chancellor. The solicitor for the appellants in a letter dated 12th September, 2006 addressed to the Registrar of the university, demanded an explanation for the dismissal of the students. This letter was also not responded to by way of reply and on 21st September, 2006, the appellants resorted to the judicial process by filing an application for Judicial Review at the High Court, Kumasi, seeking to quash their dismissals by the respondent. The ground for the application was that their dismissal violated the University regulations and that the dismissals were in violation of article 25 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.
The respondent controverted some of the allegations of facts by insisting that a committee was set up to inquire into a shooting incident which occurred in March of 2006. As part of the investigations, the Registrar on 4th May, 2006 directed letters to everyone involved in the incident and requested them to report to the Dean of students. The respondents claim that some of the students reported but o