Cordison International (k) Limited v Chairman National Land Commission & 5 others

Article 67 gives the Commission power to manage public land on behalf of national and county governments. The suit land is public land under Article 62(1)(a), held by the County Government in trust, but under Article 62(2) it is administered by the Commission. Section 5(1)(a) of the National Land Commission Act and section 12 of the Land Act confirm this allocation mandate, with section 14 prescribing the procedure.

Section 2 of the Land Act defines alienation as sale or other disposal of rights to land, while allocation is the legal process of granting rights to public land. The Commission may alienate public land only on behalf of, and with the consent of, the national and county governments, but allocation is its own statutory function conducted per section 14 of the Land Act.

Citing the Supreme Court in Peninah Nadako Kiliswa v IEBC, the court held that an applicant for judicial review must show the decision was illegal, irrational or procedurally defective. Here the appellant established no such defect: the County Assembly approval, Ministry of Energy approval, section 14 notice and PDP were all in place.

Section 9(2) of the Fair Administrative Actions Act bars courts from reviewing administrative action unless the mechanisms for appeal or review and all remedies under other written law are first exhausted. Since a statutory procedure existed for questioning the PDP and the appellant did not use it, judicial review would have been procedurally wrong.

The Commission dealt with all the appellant's concerns by letter dated 17th June 2016 and proposed a PDP accommodating both parties. Audience may be granted in written form; oral hearing is not mandatory. The allegations of manifest bias by the 1st respondent lacked substantiation as the PDP was prepared to cater for both interests.