RUBINA AHMED & 3 OTHERS
V.
GUARDIAN BANK LTD (SUED IN ITS CAPACITY AS A SUCCESSOR IN TITLE TO FIRST NATIONAL FINANCE BANK LTD)

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

This is an interlocutory appeal. The parties are still locked up in a suit before the High Court which has been pending for the last 22 years! The appeal relates to the refusal by the High Court (Mabeya, J.) to grant two of three orders sought by the appellants in their motion dated 26^th March, 2012. The motion sought leave of the court to enjoin a Company known as UNIVERSAL APPARELS (EPZ) LTD as a plaintiff in the suit; an order for substitution of the original defendant with GUARDIAN BANK LIMITED; and leave to further amend their already amended plaint. Only the order for substitution of the original defendant was granted. As the grant, or refusal to grant, such orders entails the exercise of judicial discretion, the only issue before us is to determine whether such discretion was exercised judiciously.

A short background to the appeal will suffice.

The appellants were shareholders and Directors of UNIVERSAL APPARELS (EPZ) LTD (the company) in 1996 when the compan…