Highest court lowers cost of justice
President Mwai Kibaki with the newly appointed Supreme Court Judges during their swearing-in ceremony at State House, Nairobi
What you need to know:
- The rules expedite judgements as rulings shall be delivered sixty days from the last day of hearing the case
The ‘cost’ of accessing justice at the Supreme Court will be cheaper than the Court of Appeal and the High Court.
According to the new Supreme Court rules, filing any petition, reference or application will cost Sh1,500. On the contrary, filing a civil case for amounts over Sh1 million at the High Court costs Sh70,050.
Filing a petition for a judicial review at the High Court costs Sh6,050, an application for leave costs Sh1,500 while every prayer in the judicial review costs Sh6,000.
For other petitions, it costs Sh6,000 to file at the High Court and the Court of Appeal with an additional Sh150 for every prayer requested.
At the Supreme Court, filing a notice of appeal will cost Sh1,500 and Sh2,000 for drawing a notice of appeal.
Attendance at the court registry will cost Sh200, while being attended to by a judge in chambers will cost Sh1,000 for the first 30 minutes and Sh500 for subsequent 30 minutes.
The new rules also give guidelines on when to file petitions relating to presidential elections.
It states that any person may petition the court to determine a dispute relating to a presidential election within seven days of the declaration of the results.
In petitions relating to the validity of a State of Emergency, a person may file an application within seven days of its declaration.
In the new rules, you do not have to serve the other party in person. They can be served by advertisement in at least two newspapers with the widest national circulation.
Service and transmission of documents can be done through hand delivery, licensed courier or through electronic means.
There will be expediency in delivering judgments as judgment shall be delivered within sixty days from the last day of hearing. (READ:CJ pledges justice as top court opens)
Appearance at the court for lawyers is limited to those with over seven years experience who can only be accompanied by an advocate of not less than two years experience but who would not be allowed to make any comment to the judges.
