- Suresh owns two houses and a plot in South C and another parcel of land in Gigiri
- His former wife wants the properties auctioned and the proceeds held in an escrow account of her lawyers, a proposal that Suresh has vehemently opposed
Image: PETER OBUYA
A Deputy Registrar has recused herself from a case against a tycoon who petitioned for her removal before the Judicial Service Commission.
Businessman Suresh Kantaria has been fighting with his ex-wife Mradula Kantaria over how to sell properties whose proceeds the court ordered them to share.
The two divorced in 2005 and the Court of Appeal directed in 2015 that properties in South C and Gigiri be sold and shared in a ratio of 3:1 in favour of the man.
Suresh owns two houses and a plot in South C and another parcel of land in Gigiri.
His former wife wants the properties auctioned and the proceeds held in an escrow account of her lawyers, a proposal that Suresh has vehemently opposed.
The businessman instead proposed that the properties be valuated to fetch the best prices at current market rates.
It is this matter that was before Deputy Registrar Catherine Ng'ang'a of the High Court at Nairobi's Family Division.
Suresh's former wife Mradula is seeking implementation of the Court of Appeal judgment that directed the ex-husband to pay her Sh350,000 monthly upkeep until she dies or when she remarries.
Suresh had accused Ng'ang'a of bias and even lodged a petition before the Judicial Service Commission seeking her removal from office.
"This court is alive to the fact that there is a pending complaint against it lying with the Judicial Service Commission and also considering the fact that there is no stay on the pending settlement of the terms of sale, this court hereby recuses itself from this matter," Ng'ang'a said in a ruling delivered on Friday.
The businessman had asked the deputy registrar to recuse herself from the matter, citing bias.
However, Ng'ang'a in her ruling said Suresh's action of petitioning the JSC for her removal was meant to intimidate her.
"To my mind, the actions of the judgment debtor were aimed at two things, one at intimidating the court and two invariably delaying the imminent settlement of terms of sale still pending," she said.
The matter shall now be mentioned before another deputy registrar for settlement of terms of sale on September 26.
Suresh is tussling with his former wife Mradula over the manner of sale of matrimonial properties whose proceeds they were ordered to share.
He owns two houses and a plot in South C and another parcel of land in Gigiri.
"Thereafter, each co-owner will be at liberty to look for buyers and the properties shall be sold to those who offer the best prices," Suresh says in his proposal that form part of the documents in court.
He argues that the process will be faster and will quickly end all the pending litigations.
However, Mradula wants the proceeds held in an escrow account from where she will be getting Sh350,000 every month for upkeep.
"I do hereby state that the monies owed to me pursuant to the said judgment of the Court of Appeal including my future maintenance until my demise since I do not intend on remarrying, be paid from the sale proceeds of the said properties," she says in her affidavit.