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| National |
| Mvula’s case adjourned |
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by
Emmanuel Muwamba, 14 December 2006
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07:23:11
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The High Court in Blantyre on Wednesday adjourned to an unspecified date a case in which Shire Buslines is seeking a stay order against paying former company chief executive Humphrey Mvula damages worth K39 million as ordered by the Industrial Relations Court for unlawful dismissal and subsequent failure to remit his terminal benefits.
Shire Buslines says if Mvula proceeds to get the money he may not be able to pay back if the company succeeds in its appeal against the decision to award him the damages following a 2004 affidavit in support of his case where he said he depended on his employment for survival.
High Court Judge Maclean Kamwambe, who heard inter-parte summons in his chamber from both parties, said he adjourned the matter to an unspecified date to study views presented in court Wednesday.
Earlier, one of the lawyers representing the company, Edwin Banda—asking for the stay order—said Shire Buslines should not proceed to honour payment as ordered by the Industrial Relations Court, observing that the judgement was irregular.
He said there were serious irregularities on grounds that it was delivered without taking into account the principles of natural justice which demand that a party must be heard and no person must be condemned without being heard.
Banda also attacked the composition of the quorum which delivered the ruling, saying the dispute was presided over by one person, a situation he said is only applicable to a question of law.
He said the dispute between the firm and Mvula requires that three people form a quorum as stipulated in Section 67 of the Labour Relations Act.
Mvula’s lawyer Mauya Msuku argued that it is unfair to say that the lower court’s ruling was irregular.
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