[2016] KEHC 7914 (KLR)
The court found that the applicant failed to identify the specific orders sought to be reviewed or varied, and did not demonstrate any of the grounds required under Order 45 of the Civil Procedure Rules, such as error on the face of the record, discovery of new evidence, or sufficient reason. The application sought...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2016] KEHC 7914 (KLR)
- Parties
- Applicant: Nancy Wanjeri; Defendant: Michael Mungai; Respondent: Housing Finance Company of Kenya Limited; Respondent: Kenya Building Society Limited; Respondent: Taifa Auctioneers; Respondent: Christopher Afisa; Respondent: Kenya Commercial Bank Ltd & Others
- Court
- High Court
- Court Station
- High Court at Nairobi (Milimani Law Courts)
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- Civil Case 3 & 17 of 2001
- Procedural Posture
- Miscellaneous Application / Ruling on Application for Review/variation of Previous Orders
- Outcome
- application dismissed
- Judges
- DN Musyoka
- Legal Topics
- Matrimonial Property Division, Review of Court Orders, Jurisdiction of Family Court, Rectification of Land Records, Banking Regulation, Abuse of Court Process
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
Nancy Wanjeri
Applicant
Michael Mungai
Defendant
Housing Finance Company of Kenya Limited
Respondent
Kenya Building Society Limited
Respondent
Taifa Auctioneers
Respondent
Christopher Afisa
Respondent
Kenya Commercial Bank Ltd & Others
Respondent
Procedural Posture
Miscellaneous Application / Ruling on Application for Review/variation of Previous Orders
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the applicant established grounds for review or variation of previous court orders under Order 45 of the Civil Procedure Rules.
- 2 Whether the orders sought against non-parties, such as the Central Bank of Kenya, can be granted in the context of this suit.
- 3 Whether the application is competent and within the jurisdiction of the family court.
Ratio Decidendi
The court found that the applicant failed to identify the specific orders sought to be reviewed or varied, and did not demonstrate any of the grounds required under Order 45 of the Civil Procedure Rules, such as error on the face of the record, discovery of new evidence, or sufficient reason. The application sought substantial orders against entities that were not parties to the proceedings, notably the Central Bank of Kenya, and raised issues outside the jurisdiction of the family court, which originated as a suit for division of matrimonial property. The court held that the application was vague, imprecise, and an abuse of the court process, and therefore dismissed it for lack of merit.
Court Disposition
application dismissed
Orders
- The application dated 23rd November 2015 is dismissed.
- There shall be no order as to costs.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
29 paragraphs
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT NAIROBI
FAMILY DIVISION
CIVIL CASES NOS. 3 AND 17 OF 2001
NANCY WANJERI...................................................................................PETITIONER
VERSUS
MICHAEL MUNGAI.................................................................................DEFENDANT
AND
HOUSING FINANCE COMPANY OF KENYA LIMITED.............1ST RESPONDENT
KENYA BUILDING SOCIETY LIMITED......................................2ND RESPONDENT
TAIFA AUCTIONEERS................................................................3RD RESPONDENT
CHRISTOPHER AFISA................................................................4TH RESPONDENT
KENYA COMMERCIAL BANK LTD & OTHERS................INTERESTED PARTIES
OTHERS................................................................ACCESSORIES TO THE CRIMES
RULING
1. The application I am called upon to determine is the Motion dated 23rd November 2015. It is founded on provisions of the Registered Land Act, Cap 300, Laws of Kenya, the Constitution of Kenya, the Land Title Act, Cap 282, Laws of Kenya, the Registration of Titles Act, Cap 281, Laws of Kenya, the Civil Procedure Act, Cap 21, Laws of Kenya, the Law Reform Act, the Miscellaneous Provisions Act, Cap 2, and all other enabling provisions of the law.
2. The principal order sought is for review or variation of orders made previously by Justices Aluoch, Rawal and others “so as to correspond with the current situations.” There is also a prayer seeking that the court rulings, directives, orders, notices, warnings, accounts and bills on record, that had been made against the Kenya Commercial Bank, the Housing Finance Company of Kenya /Kenya Building Society and others, be extended to the Central Bank of Kenya, the Capital Markets Authority, Housing Finance Company Limited, Housing Finance Group Limited; and, in the alternative, the court do order the Central Bank of Kenya and Capital Markets Authority to deregister and cancel the registrations and operating licences of Housing Finance Company Limited; and, Housing Finance Group Limited for being illegal and unlawful bodies.
3. The applicant would like Central Bank of Kenya, as the supervisor of the banks and financial institutions named in the application, to refund to the applicant the unauthorized charges (levied against him by the said institutions), withdrawals and excess payments that he made to the named institutions with regard to purchase of Nairobi Block 111/530, as well as for loss of use, enjoyment and earnings, and mesne profits. There is also a prayer against the Chief Land Registrar and the Chief Court Registrar to have them rectify certain records mentioned in the application. There are several other prayers against several other persons and entities named in the application.
4. The grounds upon which the application is predicated are detailed on the face of the application in twenty-one paragraphs. The facts are deposed in an affidavit sworn by the applicant on 23rd November 2015. The applicant has attached a huge bundle of documents to his affidavit to support his case.
5. Review is provided for under the Civil Procedure Rules, specifically at Order 45. It is notorious that review is sought and grantable under three general grounds – error apparent on the face of the record, discovery of new evidence or matter of significant importance that was not available to the parties at the time the decision sought to be reviewed was made, and any other sufficient reason.
6. Although the applicant indicated in the application that he wanted orders made previously to be reviewed or varied, he did not identify the specific orders or decrees that he sought the court to review. For the court to exercise its power to review its previous decisions there must be specificity as to the particular orders that the party wants the court to address its mind to. It is not enough to merely say that they would like review of orders without pointing at the particular orders.
7. The applicant did not attempt in the application, and in particular in the affidavit and the oral submissions, to bring the matter within the four corners of Order 45 of the Civil Procedure Rules, by demonstrating that there were errors on the face of the record with regard to the orders sought to be reviewed, that he had discovered new and important matters of evidence that he did not have as at the time the said orders were made, and that there is now sufficient reason for review of the alleged orders, which, in any event, he has not even identified. A basis for review therefore has not been laid.
8. Some of the orders sought are substantial and far reaching. For example, the orders sought against Central Bank of Kenya are for the said bank to pay unspecified sums of money to the applicant. Such orders, as crafted, are available only against a person who or entity that has been made a party to the proceedings. Central Bank of Kenya has not been made a party to the proceedings herein, and no proceedings of any kind have been conducted against Central Bank of Kenya which could provide background to the making of the orders sought against it.
9. Furthermore, the matter herein started as a suit for division of matrimonial property. It appears to have spanned out to cover matters that are not germane to division of matrimonial property, and to deal with issues that are way out of the jurisdiction of a family court seized of a matrimonial dispute. The suit has therefore spiraled out of control so much so that the court is now being invited to make orders that are not available for it to make in the context of the suit that was originally brought before it.
10. I will be forgiven for concluding that the application before me, complete with the supporting affidavit and its annextures, is lengthy, wordy and verbose, which ultimately makes it vague, nebulous and imprecise, and certainly no substantial orders can reasonably be made on it. It is, in my very humble view, misconceived, incompetent and, most certainly, an abuse of the court process.
11. The conclusion to be drawn from the above is that no basis exists for the making of the orders sought in the application dated 23rd November 2015. The application is for dismissal, and I do hereby, regrettably, dismiss the same. There shall be no order on costs.
DATED, SIGNED and DELIVERED at NAIROBI this 22ND DAY OF JULY, 2016.
W. MUSYOKA
JUDGE