Hon. Justice Ssekana Musa discusses instances where court orders can be set aside in the case of Pentecostal Assemblies of God Lira V Pentecostal Assemblies of God Limited and Uganda Registration Bureau. (Miscellaneous Application No.014 of 2018) [2019] UGHCCD 117. in his ruling delivered on 14thJune 2019
This application arose out of an application that was still between the appellant and the respondent but after court adjourned the matter, the applicant did not appear for the next trial and the orders were made without the applicant present (exparte). As a result, the applicant brought this application under section 98 of the Civil Procedure Act invoking the inherent powers of court to set aside the orders made in their absence claiming the date and time for reappearing was not clearly set by court.
The issue before court was whether the orders can be set aside according to the reasons given by the respondents?
Court considered order 17 rule 4 of the Civil Procedure Rules that states that where any party to whom time has been granted fails to produce evidence in that time given, court may without them decide the suit immediately. Court noted that the time for when the case would be heard again was clearly stipulated before the end of the trial therefore there was no sufficient reason by the applicant not to appear in court. Also the two weeks were a lot of delay by the applicant to file this suit and hence the application for setting aside orders did not have merit and no sufficient cause was shown by the applicant. It only intended to delay conclusion of the dispute in the main suit.
