The
applicant approached this court on an urgent Chamber Application. The first
respondent opposed the application.
However,
before the parties could go into the merits of the case, counsel for the first
respondent raised a point in limine to the effect that the purported
application is, in fact, not an application in terms of the Rules. To this
effect, he referred to the provisions of Rule 241 of the High Court Rules.
The
purported application is not in the requisite form.
Counsel
for the applicant indicated that the court should not dismiss the application
just because it is not in the format provided by the Rules.
In
terms of Rule 241(1)(a), a Chamber Application “shall be accompanied by Form
29B duly completed, and serve as is provided in subrule (2), shall be supported
by one, or more, affidavits setting out the facts upon which the applicant
relies.”
The
proviso to that Rule states that where a Chamber Application is to be served on
an interested party, it shall be in Form 29, with appropriate modifications.
The
purported application by the applicant did not comply with the required format.
Counsel
for the applicant, other than seeking that such non-compliance not be taken
seriously, had no explanation for the non-compliance.
Where
it is argued that because of failure to comply with the Rules there is
therefore no application before the court, it is for the applicant to show that
the failure to comply should not have such fatal effects, as what is before the
court can still be considered as an application.
In
the circumstances of this case, I found no good reasons advanced by the
applicant's counsel to condone the non-compliance.
I therefore dismissed the purported application
for failure to comply with the relevant Rules of the High Court, that is Rule
241.
