THE REPUBLIC VS BASE ESTATE COMPANY LTD. & ORS
2024
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- HER LADYSHIP JUSTICE MARIE-LOUISE SIMMONS (MRS.)
Areas of Law
- Civil Procedure
- Property and Real Estate Law
- Evidence Law
2024
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The applicant, Morrison Kouassi, sought to hold the Respondents in contempt for continuing construction on disputed land during an ongoing court case. Despite a previous refusal by the court to grant an interlocutory injunction against the Respondents, the applicant argued that their actions prejudiced the fair trial of the case. The Respondents contended that there was no court order restraining their actions, thus their construction was lawful. The court, referencing several legal precedents, determined that without a specific court order being violated, the actions of the Respondents did not constitute willful contempt. Consequently, the Respondents were acquitted and discharged, and the court awarded costs to them.
The Applicant of this Contempt application is Morrison Kouassi, General Manager of a company called Consika Limited and Plaintiff in an ongoing land suit at the Circuit Court, Accra.
The application was filed on the 22nd March 2024. He has deposed to an affidavit in support, seeking to have the Respondents herein committed for“aggravated contempt. ”The 1st and 2nd Respondents are an Estate Company and its Managing Director respectively and are also the Defendants in the pending land suit.
The gravamen of the Applicant’s case is that whilst the case is sub judice, the Respondents are busy and hurriedly building on the “subject matter of the undetermined Court litigation” an act which the Applicant states “prejudices and interferes with the fair trial and outcome of the case. ”The application was served on the 2nd Respondent personally on the 19th March 2024 as per an affidavit of service dated 22nd Mach 2024. Upon service, the Respondents also filed an affidavit in opposition on the 22nd March 20424 which was also served on the Applicant’s counsel on the 26th March 2024. Subsequently, counsel for both parties addressed the Court viva voce on the 16th May 2024 but chose to file further submissions in support of their cases.
Applicant’s counsel filed his written submission on the 27th May 2024 while counsel for the Respondents filed on the 30th May 2024. THE APPLICANT’S CASE The details of the Applicant’s case is that, on the 22nd September 2023, he and his company caused a Writ to be issued at the Registry of the Circuit Court, Accra against the Respondents herein for Declaration of Title to some parcel of land situate at Asylum Down in the Greater Accra Region.
The purchase of which his company had made payments to both the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) and the Korle Klottey Municipal Assembly (KoKMA). The Applicant also applied for the reliefs of Recovery of Possession as the Respondents had allegedly trespassed unto parts of their land and had begun building on same, as well as a perpetual injunction to restraint the Respondents and their successors in title from having anything to do with the land in issue.
A fact deserving attention in this application is the fact that the Applicant herein had in addition to the Writ issued, also applied to the trial Court for an Interlocutory Injunction to restrain the Respondents herein from further building on the disputed land.
Attached hereto the application are the said application for injunction and the