THE REPUBLIC vs. THE HIGH COURT, ACCRA EX-PARTE: PAA KWESI YALLEY FRANCIS GYANE, BEN ATTOR

The applicant initiated a writ of summons in September 2006 against respondents for trespass on land and obtained an interim injunction. Subsequently, contempt proceedings were initiated against the applicant, which were originally before Mrs Justice Owusu-Arhin. The matter was adjourned and later transferred by the court registrar without the Chief Justice's authorization to another judge who issued a bench warrant against the applicant. The applicant appeared before a different judge who rescinded the warrant, but the original judge ignored this and issued further arrest orders. The applicant challenged the jurisdiction of the High Court to hear the contempt proceedings after transfer without proper authorization.

MRS. WOOD, C.J.: The case which triggered this instant application has suffered a series of dramatic twists and turns. Little wonder that we have been invited to intervene by issuing an order of certiorari to quash an order of the High Court presided over by Mrs Justice Ivy Ashong –Yakubu, dated the 22nd of January 2007. The self explanatory grounds of the application to invoke our supervisory jurisdiction are that: “The High Court acted without or in excess of jurisdiction by hearing the said suit which has been transferred from another High Court without the seal and authorisation of His Lordship the Chief Justice. There was a patent error on the face of the record when the said High Court assumed it had jurisdiction and ordered a bench warrant for the arrest of the applicant. That the orders of the High Court, Accra were made without jurisdiction and as such are null and void.” The facts leading to this application are quite straightforward. In September 2006, the applic...