RE ACCRA INDUSTRIAL ESTATE ACQUISITION; ANKRAH AND OTHERS vs. BOTOKU AND OTHERS [1966]DLSC1745

RE ACCRA INDUSTRIAL ESTATE ACQUISITION; ANKRAH AND OTHERS vs. BOTOKU AND OTHER... [1966]DLSC1745

Date	1966-01-31
Suit No.
Citation No.	[1966]DLSC1745

MILLS-ODOI JSC

APALOO JSC

AKAINYAH J.S.C.

JOE REINDORF (WITH HIM B. J. DA ROCHA) FOR THE APPELLANTS.

SIR EDWARD ASAFU-ADJAYE (WITH HIM ALBERT ASAFU-ADJAYE) FOR THE FIRST CLAIMANTS-RESPONDENTS.

HAYFRON-BENJAMIN (WITH HIM NELSON COFIE) FOR THE FIFTH CLAIMANT-RESPONDENT.

[1966]DLSC1745
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >RE ACCRA INDUSTRIAL ESTATE ACQUISITION; ANKRAH AND<o:p></o:p>OTHERS <o:p></o:p>vs. <o:p></o:p>BOTOKU AND OTHERS <o:p></o:p>[SUPREME COURT]<o:p></o:p>[1966] GLR 119<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">

DATE:
31 JANUARY
1966.<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL:&nbsp;&nbsp; <o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 0in 0in">

JOE REINDORF (WITH HIM B. J. DA ROCHA) FOR THE
APPELLANTS.<o:p></o:p>

SIR EDWARD ASAFU-ADJAYE (WITH HIM ALBERT ASAFU-ADJAYE)
FOR THE FIRST CLAIMANTS-RESPONDENTS.<o:p></o:p>

HAYFRON-BENJAMIN (WITH HIM NELSON COFIE) FOR THE
FIFTH CLAIMANT-RESPONDENT.<o:p></o:p>

</div>CORAM:
<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 0in 0in">

MILLS-ODOI, APALOO AND AKAINYAH JJ.S.C.<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>JUDGMENT OF APALOO J.S.C.<o:p></o:p>Apaloo
J.S.C. delivered the judgment of the court. Some time in 1952, the Government
of Ghana were minded of acquiring under the Public Lands Ordinance, 1 an area
of land situate at Accra and lying north of Ring Road. Accordingly, the
Commissioner of Lands, acting under the direction of the Minister of Housing,
published a notice of this fact in the Gazette of 12 July 1952. The notice
states that the land “is required for the service of the Colony and Ashanti.”
It would seem however that the real object of the acquisition was to constitute
the area into an industrial estate. The said notice invited persons having any
claims or interests in the land to send particulars of these to the
Commissioner of Lands who expressed himself as willing to treat for the
purchase of the land on behalf of the Governor. Following upon this, a bailiff
attached to the Magistrate’s Court, Accra, was entrusted with the notices of
acquisition and was instructed to post these up at various places and also to
serve certain specified individuals whose interests, in the opinion of the Commissioner
of Lands, were likely to be affected by the proposed acquisition. The record
shows that such persons were all served by 27 August 1952.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>It would
seem that in compliance with the request contained in the Gazette notice,
twelve persons submitted claims to the Commissioner of Lands. On 21 January
1953, certificate of title was granted in favour of the government. In view of
the use to which the land was to be put, it would seem that the government
became afflicted with some doubt as to whether the land was validly acquired
under the Public Lands Ordinance. To remove this, the government, on 29
September 1956, secured the passage into law of the Accra Industrial Estate
(Acquisition of Lands) Ordinance, 1956.2 Section 2 of this cured any defect
that there might have been in the certificate of title. Section 4 of the
Ordinance authorised the Commissioner of Lands to invite persons interested in
the land to submit claims for compensation. This was presumably done by the
persons who submitted written claims to the Commissioner of Lands pursuant to
the Gazette notice of July 1952. These claims reveal serious conflicts as to
title. Accordingly, the Commissioner of Lands, by notice, called upon all the
claimants to attend before the High Court and prove their respective claims.
That is the genesis of the litigation.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
parties appeared before the High Court for the first time on 16 May 1960, and
were ordered to file their respective claims within a specified time. All the
claimants save the sixth and eleventh complied with the court’s order and duly
lodged in their respective claims. For failure to comply with the court’s
order, the claims of the sixth and eleventh claimants were struck out. The
third claimant abandoned his claim after filing his pleadings and this was also
struck out as well as the claim of the ninth claimants who did not prosecute
their claim. Meantime, the Commissioner of Lands caused to be made a plan of
the area acquired and this was subsequently tendered in evidence (exhibit 2).
The fourth claimant alone claimed the whole of the area acquired as the
property of the Mantse Ankrah family. The first claimant claimed, as the
property of the Oku We family, the northern portion of the land and claims to
form boundary on the south with Musuli village. Both the fifth and seventh
claimants claim the identical area of land shown edged blue on the plan and
commonly but inaccurately referred to in the proceedings as Musuli land. Both
the second and tenth claimants put the origin of their titles to grants made to
them by the fourth claimant. Their respective areas are also shown as the area
claimed by Okomfo Ayealey, the eighth claimant.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>Hearing
of this case commenced before Prempeh J. (as he then was) on 26 February 1963.
Except the second and tenth claimants who relied on grants made to them by the
fourth claima</main>