Posted by By Kio Nimengoka on
The Chief Judge of Rivers State, Justice Iche Ndu on Monday this week vividly demonstrated his unhappiness over what he described as the unwholesome practice by some lawyers in filing motions for stay of execution.
The Chief Judge of Rivers State, Justice Iche Ndu on Monday this week vividly demonstrated his unhappiness over what he described as the unwholesome practice by some lawyers in filing motions for stay of execution.
Justice Ndu in his speech at the colloquium on the draft copy of the proposed new High Court Rules in Port Harcourt, noted that some of the lawyers serve such motions on the sheriff or the deputy sheriff without any fixed dates for hearing, a situation that had swollen the cause lists of the courts with such motions that were never prosecuted.
Consequently, the Chief Judge has ordered that from September 1, 2005 no motion for stay of execution pending appeal shall be served on the sheriff or an officer acting for him unless such motion has been fixed for hearing by a judge.
Justice Ndu said it was after a judge had fixed the motion for hearing that service could be effected on the sheriff or any officer acting for him.
On the motion to set aside execution or restrain sale of attached goods, he ordered that the applicant shall pay the filing and service fees, adding that "it is upon payment of the above fees, the motion shall be fixed for hearing by a judge."
The Chief Judge further noted that as a result of this unacceptable and unhealthy development, the judiciary had experienced congestion in its "warehouse and rooms and littering of all sorts of chattel in the available parking spaces in the premises."
He explained that the two-day colloquium was designed to ventilate on the draft Rules and at the end, the views judges, magistrates, lawyers and from the state Ministry of Justices as well as legal academia would be harmonized.
Hear him: "Our aim is to produce a Rule that will stand the test of time; a Rule that will take into account all the emerging innovation in terms of automated system and digital technology in litigation processes.
Earlier in his paper on the proposed new order 11 and 30, the chairman of the draft Rules, Justice Obie Daniel-Kalio cautioned against hasty and radical suggestions, pointing out that the essence of the Rules of the High Court was for standardization and uniformity with others across the country.
Justice Daniel-Kalio recommended a pragmatic approach and the we of utilitarianism as a watch word in achieving an improved Rules.
Also speaking, the chairman of the colloquium committee, Justice Peter Agumagu noted that the emergence of new Rules would add advantage to justice delivery in the state.
Justice Agumagu appealed to the participants to actively make their comments and suggestions based on their years of experience in the legal profession so as to produce a veritable instrument to ensure effective deliver of justice in the state.
In his speech, the chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Port Harcourt branch, Mr. Granville Abibo commended the Chief Judge for his efforts that had translated in to the production of the draft Rules.