Appropriation of Funds charged on the Consolidated Revenue Funds of States
Court
declares Executive appropriation of judicial funds unconstitutional
The Ekiti
State High Court has declared unconstitutional the appropriation practice,
whereby the Annual Budget Estimates of the Judiciary is included in the
Appropriation Bill which State Governors lay before the States House of
Assembly. The Judgment was delivered by Honourable Justice J. O. Adeyeye of Ado
Ekiti Division of the High Court of Ekiti State, on Thursday, July 10, 2014, in
Suit No. HAD/56/2013 filed by Dr Olisa Agbakoba against the Attorney
General of Ekiti State and others.
The
Governors include judicial estimates in their Appropriation Bills, which are
then passed into the Appropriation Laws, by the States Houses of Assembly,
contrary to Section 121 of the Constitution which guarantees independent
funding of the Judiciary. As a result, Dr. Agbakoba approached the Court and
asked for four Orders: (1) A declaration that the present practice of funding
the judiciary is unconstitutional. (2) A declaration that
any amount standing to the credit of the judiciary in the Consolidated
Revenue Fund of the State ought not to be released to the Judiciary in warrants
by the Executive Arm, as is the present practice, but to be paid directly
in whole to the Heads of Court for disbursement. (3) A declaration that
the continued Dependence of the Judiciary on the Executive Arm for its
Budgeting and Funds Release is directly responsible for the present state of underfunding of the Judiciary,
poor and inadequate judicial infrastructure, low morale among judicial
personnel- alleged corruption in the Judiciary, delays in administration of justice and judicial services delivery
and general low quality and poor out-put by the Judiciary. (4) A Perpetual
Injunction, restraining the Defendants from all practices on Judiciary funding
which is contrary to Section 121 (3) CFRN 1999, to wit submitting Judiciary's
estimates to the Executive and release of the Judiciary's fund in warrants by the Executive instead of
directly to the Heads of Courts. The Court granted all the Orders.
It will
be recalled that Justice A. R. Mohammed of the Federal High Court Abuja, on May
26, 2014 delivered a Landmark Judgment in a similar Case filed by Dr Agbakoba
and held that estimates of the Federal Judiciary should not be submitted to the
Executive for inclusion in the Appropriation Bill. The Court ruled that
judicial estimates should be submitted by the National Judicial Council direct
to the National Assembly for consideration and appropriation.
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