River Trees Management Company Limited v National Land Commission & another [2020] KEELC 2521 (KLR)
The bottom line
#Kenya's Environment and Land Court confirmed the National Land Commission can revoke titles to public land, even years after allocation.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Key legal issues
#Whether the National Land Commission had jurisdiction to review the grant of the suit property
Yes. The suit property had been surrendered for a public purpose (a nursery school), making its subsequent private registration a disposition of public land reviewable under section 14(1) of the National Land Commission Act; the review power is retrospective.
Section 14(1) of the National Land Commission Act, enacted pursuant to Article 68(c)(v) of the Constitution, empowers the Commission to review all grants or dispositions of public land to establish their propriety or legality. The court held the Commission's task was to examine how public land was converted to private land, a process that is retrospective and has no effective date. It disagreed with Odunga J's reasoning in Cecilia Chepkoech Leting and preferred the reasoning of Korir J and Angote J.
Whether the Petitioner's rights under Article 47 were violated
No. The Petitioner was summoned and refused to attend; the Gazette notice stated the reasons for the recommendation to revoke.
The Petitioner conceded it was summoned to the public hearing but declined to attend on jurisdictional grounds, and could not then complain of denial of a hearing. The Gazette notice clearly stated the reason for the recommendation to revoke the title, satisfying the written-reasons requirement under Article 47(2).
Whether the Petitioner's rights under Article 40 were violated
No. The Commission's action was not compulsory acquisition, and Article 40 does not protect unlawfully acquired property; the caveat was lawfully registered under section 76 of the Land Registration Act.
The court found the property had been surrendered for a public purpose, so the review did not amount to compulsory acquisition calling for compensation. The caveat was registered pursuant to section 76 of the Land Registration Act. The Petitioner's own claim that the land should have been offered back to the original owner was an indirect admission that the property had been surrendered for public purpose.
Legal principles established
#- The National Land Commission's mandate under section 14(1) of the National Land Commission Act extends to reviewing how land originally public was converted to private hands, and that review is retrospective with no effective date.
- Article 40 of the Constitution does not protect property found to have been unlawfully acquired.
Court orders
#- 1.The petition is dismissed with costs to the 1st Respondent
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Articles 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 40 and 47 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010; Article 165 of the Constitution (constitutional petition jurisdiction of the High Court/ELC)
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Later judgments citing this (1)
#Judgments in the corpus that rely on this one. Where the Court said how it treated the authority, that is shown.
- Claassen v Commissioner of Lands & 6 others (Environment and Land Petition 7 of 2015) [2025] KEELC 5287 (KLR)[2025] KEELC 5287 (KLR)9 Jul 2025
Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "River Trees Management Company Limited v National Land Commission & another [2020] KEELC 2521 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2020). ELC Petition No. 11 of 2018. Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keelc/2020/2521/eng@2020-05-21
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.