The Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) has been dealt a huge blow after the Environment and Land Court ordered it to refund Ksh127.4 million to a local company in three days.
According to Justice Sila Munyao, the corporation had collected the money as rent from a parcel of land in Mombasa it had leased to the local firm.
Justice Munyao ruled that Kenya Railways had to remit the funds with interest at court rates from the time the rent was paid.
The Judge noted that the corporation was aware of the amount remitted by the company and still had the opportunity to file an application for the accounts to be scrutinised for verification of the funds.
“None has been filed and neither has the corporation offered to say what the correct amount is. I have no reason to doubt that the money claimed by the plaintiff in the (garnishee) application is not the money due and owing," Justice Munyao ruled.
The Court further ordered KR's managing director to remit the funds without delay out of the corporation's revenue account.
He stated that the order issued to the corporation's MD was a public and statutory duty which would have dire consequences if he went against court orders.
“If he does not pay within a reasonable time, the aggrieved party has the right to come to court to see to it that the public duty the managing director is supposed to do is done,” Munyao ruled.
The judge also urged any party to file an application and present evidence if they felt the corporation owed them.
"The right to be paid which has been ordered by the court is not a vain right, it must be given effect. If we say that it cannot be given effect by strictures in statute, then we are saying that there are categories of people who are above the law and can operate with impunity. That cannot be allowed,” he stated.
