20120607 TZHC Dar es Salaam

·- ~· ·i'i" I 1// [! I i I IN THE. HIGH COURT OF TANZANIA 11 :1 I' AT DAR ES SALAAM I, I CIVIL CASE NO_,. 174 OF 200 9 . I . A. B. IMANI PHARMACY . . . . lI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PLAINTIFF 1 i VERSUS I! I' MEDICAL EXPRESS TANZANIA LIMITED . . . . . . . . DEFENDANT ' Date of last order - 15/ 12/ 2011 Date of Ruling- 7/6/2012 RUJING Shangwa, J. ·1 Ii I' This is a preliminary obJection raised: by the defendant against the suit. The poinJ of objectioJ raised herein is /I I that this court has no jurisd:iction to hear or determine the suit between the parties. In his written submissipns, counsel for the defendant I submitted that the plaintiff as claiming fliom the defend~t - I . ! I I 2 a sum of Tshs.59,805,103/50 which falls within · the pecuniary jurisdiction of the court of the Resident Magistrate/District Court. He contended that as a claim of Tshs.59,805,103/50 falls within the pecuniary jurisdiction of the aforesaid courts as per S. 40 (2) of the Magistrates Courts Act as amended by Act No. 25 of 2002, the plaintiffs suit ought to have been filed either in the court of the Resident Magistrate or in the District Court even though this court has pecuniary jurisdiction to try a suit in which the claim involved is Tshs. l only. · In support of his contention, he referred the court to S ..13 of the Civil Procedure Code Cap. 33 R.E. 2002 which provides as follows and I quote:- "S.13 Every suit shall be instituted in the Court of the lowest grade competent to try it and, for the , 3 purposes of this section, a co.urt of I the Resident Magistrate and the District Court shall be deemed to be courts of the same grade". It is not in dispute as submitted by counsel fo~ the 1 defendant that the amount claimed by the plaintiff from the I defendant in this case is Tshs.59,805, 103/50. It is true as submitted by counsel for the defendant that this amount falls within the pecuniary jurisdiction of ithe court of the Resident Magistrate and the District Co11rt. This is as provided for under S. 40 (2) of the Magistrates Court Act as I amended by Act No. 25 of 2002. Now, _so long as the amount claimed in the suit falls ! within the pecuniary jurisdiction of the said courts and so long as it is a mandatory requirement of law that every suit shall be instituted in the court of tµe lowest grade 4 competent to try it, the plaintiff was legally bound to file his suit either in the court of the Resident Magistrate or in the District Court. For this reason, I uphold the· preliminary objection raised by the defendant and I strike out the suit with costs. IC y"°;~ ~ ~ 01' ,,,v~~ . A.Shangwa ;J ' . JUDGE 01srR1CT ,..~ ~·. 7/6/2012 Delivered in open court this 7 th June, 2012 in the presence of Mr. Senguji for Mr. Didas and Ms. Hadija for the defendant. ~ A.Shangwa JUDGE 7/6/2012