The High Court has dismissed a TSC application to have a case involving 52,000 retired teachers heard by a three-judge bench.
The teachers' employer sought to have the Chief Justice appoint the bench to sort out the long-drawn-out dispute but Justice Janet Mulwa, sitting in Nakuru, ruled that the matter could be handled competently by a single judge.
“The matter carries weighty, complex issues and questions of public interest and it can as well be handled by a single judge.”
Mulwa told the commission to appeal if it is not satisfied with her decision.
“Referral of the case would prolong the matter, which has been in court for the last 11 years,” she said.
Mulwa said a 2008 judgment compelling the TSC and the Director of Pensions to pay the retirees is being settled in bits and that it will be unfair to forestall the ongoing payments.
"I decline to exercise my discretion in favour of the applicant (TSC) to refer this matter to the Chief Justice to appoint a three-judge bench. Although the matter carries weighty, complex issues and questions of public interests, it can well be handled by a single judge."
The Teachers' Service Commission, in an application dated November 3, last year, claimed that the retired teachers had inflated the amount payable, contrary to the court's direction of 2008. They said the amount should have been Sh16.7 billion and not Sh43.2 billion.
Through lawyer Lawrence Karanja, the TSC argued that the matter is of public interest and should be handled by a bench of judges to create no room for errors in its determination.
However, the retirees, through lawyer Dominic Kimatta, opposed the application for the constitution of a bench, arguing that there was no ambiguity in the court's 2008 judgment.
Kimatta informed the court that there was no inflation of the amount, adding that the amount had been accruing interest since the judgment 11 years ago.
The retirees won the case on October 23, 2008. Justice David Maraga ordered TSC to process pensions based on salaries awarded in the 1997 agreement.
Subsequent appeals by the commission and the Attorney General against the judgment in higher courts were unsuccessful after the Supreme Court in 2008 reaffirmed the ruling.
(Edited by R.Wamochie)
