Download PDF
NIGERIA UNION OF MINE WORKERS AND CROSS RIVER LIMESTONES LIMITED (NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL COURT) HON. JUSTICE B.A. ADEJUMO PRESIDENT PROF. B.B. KANYIP MEMBER BARR. M.B. DADDA MEMBER SUIT NO: NIC/13/2002 DATE OF RULING 8TH JUNE, 2005 COURT Attitude of courts towards matters before it - Need for court to be fair to both parties before it. LABOUR LAW Collective agreement - Party seeking interpretation of under section 15, Trade Disputes Act - Duty thereon to show that he is a party to agreement sought to be interpreted thereunder. ISSUES 1 Whether the Applicant’s application for adjournment was meritorious. 2 Whether the Applicant lacked the locus standi to institute the action. 3 Whether the suit was an abuse of due process of law and therefore incompetent. FACTS The Applicant filed an action at the National Industrial Court for the interpretation of certain articles of the existing negotiated conditions of service/collective agreement between the parties. Both parties filed affidavit evidence in support and in opposition of the application. The Respondent also filed an application for an order dismissing or striking out the suit on the grounds that the Applicant lacked the locus standi to institute the suit, and that the suit was an abuse of due process of law and therefore incompetent. The Respondent’s application was moved on 3 June, 2004 by Okon Edem, Esq. When the matter came up for further hearing on 8 June 2005, Ikenna Edozie who appeared for the Applicant informed the court that he was ready to reply to the Respondent’s counsel’s preliminary objection. After making some submission on the issue of locus standi, Mr. Edozie applied for an adjournment to enable him to conclude his submission. Mr. Edem opposed the application for adjournment made by Mr. Edozie on the ground that the court was set to dispose matters expeditiously. The court refused the application for adjournment and deemed that the counsel for the Applicant had closed his case. The court thereafter ruled on the preliminary objection. HELD (Dismissing the Applicant’s claim): 1. On Duty on Applicant under section 15 of the Trade Disputes Act to show that he is a party to agreement sought to be interpreted - For an applicant to come to the National Industrial Court under section 15 Trade Disputes Act, Cap.432, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990 for an interpretation, there must be an agreement which shows the applicant as a party so as to warrant it to have the right to bring the action. In the instant case, Exhibit A attached to the originating process did not reveal who the signatories to it were. Therefore, the Applicant had no locus standi and his action was an abuse of due process of law and was dismissed. 2. On Attitude of court towards matters before it - The court is a serious place for legal matters. It should not be involved in over indulging parties and their counsel. A court of law should not be a place to hide for the purpose of buying time or wasting the opponent s time. The abuse of due process of the law should always be discouraged. In the instant case, the record of proceedings and the history of the case showed that the Applicant i never ready to prosecute its case with the diligence it required. The court therefore refused the Applicant’s application for adjournment. 3. On Need for court to be fair to both parties before it - Fairness should be to both parties before the court. In the instant case, the court in deciding the Applicant’s application for adjournment considered the antecedents of the case, and disallowed the application in the interest of justice.