[2020] KEELC 981 (KLR)
The court determined that it lacked jurisdiction to grant the extension sought under Section 888 of the Companies Act, 2015, because the Act defines 'the court' as the High Court unless otherwise specified. Since Section 888 does not specify any other court, only the High Court has jurisdiction to extend time for...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2020] KEELC 981 (KLR)
- Parties
- Applicant: Family Bank Limited
- Court
- Environment and Land Court
- Court Station
- Environment and Land Court at Nairobi
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- Environment and Land Miscellaneous Application E064 of 2020
- Procedural Posture
- Miscellaneous Application / Ruling on Jurisdiction and Transfer
- Outcome
- Application transferred for want of jurisdiction.
- Legal Topics
- Registration of Charges, Extension of Time, Jurisdiction of Court
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
Family Bank Limited
Applicant
Procedural Posture
Miscellaneous Application / Ruling on Jurisdiction and Transfer
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the Environment and Land Court has jurisdiction to grant extension of time for registration of a charge under Section 888 of the Companies Act, 2015.
- 2 Which court is empowered to extend time for registration of charges under the Companies Act, 2015.
Ratio Decidendi
The court determined that it lacked jurisdiction to grant the extension sought under Section 888 of the Companies Act, 2015, because the Act defines 'the court' as the High Court unless otherwise specified. Since Section 888 does not specify any other court, only the High Court has jurisdiction to extend time for registration of charges. Consequently, the Environment and Land Court transferred the matter to the Commercial Division of the High Court at Milimani Law Courts for hearing and determination, emphasizing the need for urgency in placing the matter before the Presiding Judge or Duty Judge for appropriate directions.
Court Disposition
Application transferred for want of jurisdiction.
Orders
- The suit is transferred to the Commercial Division of the High Court at Milimani Law Court for hearing and final determination.
- The matter shall be placed before the Presiding Judge/Duty Judge of the Division as soon as possible for appropriate directions.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
22 paragraphs
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
IN THE ENVIRONMENT AND LAND COURT
AT NAIROBI
ELC MISC. APPLICATION NO. E064 OF 2020
IN THE MATTER OF RELIABLE REALTY MANAGERS LIMITED
AND
IN THE MATTER OF THE COMPANIES ACT, 2015
AND
IN THE MATTER OF AN APPLICATION FOR EXTENSION OF TIME FOR
REGISTRATION OFA CHARGE BY RELIABLEREALTY MANAGERS
LIMITEDIN FAVOUR OF FAMILYBANK LIMITED
FAMILY BANK LIMTED............................................................APPLICANT
RULING
What is before me is the application by Family Bank Limited (“the applicant”) brought by way of Notice of Motion dated 12/10/2020 under Section 888 of the Companies Act No. 17 of 2015 (“the Act”). In the application, the applicant has sought extension of time by 30 days to register a charge by Reliable Realty Managers Ltd. dated 12th August, 2020 in favour of the applicant over L.R No. 13623/3. I have looked at Section 888 of the Act. The same gives “the court” power to extend the time set under the Act for registration of charges. Before considering the application on merit, I found it necessary to ascertain whether I have jurisdiction to grant the order of extension sought by the applicant. Under Section 3 of the Act, “the court” is defined as follows:
“ “the court” means (unless some other court is specified) the High Court.”
Section 888 of the Act has conferred the power to extend time for registration of charges upon “the court”. The section has not indicated which court is to exercise the power. In the absence of such indication or specification, the provisions of section 3 of the Act comes into play. That section as mentioned earlier, defines the court as the High Court where no other court is specified. In the circumstances, it is my finding that the court with jurisdiction to extend time under Section 888 of the Act is the High Court. Consequent to that finding, I hereby transfer this suit to the Commercial Division of the High Court at Milimani Law Court for hearing and final determination. In view of the urgency involved, the matter shall be placed before the Presiding Judge/Duty Judge of the Division as soon as possible for appropriate directions on the pending application.
Dated and Delivered at Nairobi this 19th Day of October, 2020
S. OKONG’O
JUDGE
Judgment delivered through Microsoft Teams Video Conferencing Platform in the presence of:
Ms. Munyasia for the Applicant
Ms. C. Nyokabi-Court Assistant