Shree Visa Oshwal Community Nairobi Registered Trustees v Nairobi City County & 2 others
The bottom line
#Nairobi's Environment and Land Court stopped the demolition of the Oshwal Religious Centre, ruling the county violated the community's right to be heard before acting.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Key legal issues
#Whether the petition was properly before the court despite failure to appeal to the Physical Planning Liaison Committee
The petition was properly before the court; the exceptional circumstances of a presidential directive to a multi-agency demolition team and the Liaison Committee's lack of power to award damages made the statutory appeal futile
The court accepted that sections 13 and 38 of the Physical Planning Act provide an appeal route, but found that the demolition directive emanated from the National Government via presidential directive, so a Liaison Committee appeal could not have prevented demolition. Further, the repealed Act gave the Committee no power to award recompense, so the remedy was neither efficacious nor adequate.
Whether the Petitioner's canalization and development were illegal
The development was not shown to be illegal; the approvals of 1997 and the certificate of occupation stood, and the Respondents failed to plead and prove the alleged illegality or fraud
Survey plans from 1921 onwards showed a canalized stream/anti-malaria drain, not a river. The Petitioner produced approved plans (DC 785 of 18.4.1997), a certificate of occupation, and uncontradicted evidence. The Respondents merely asserted the approvals were illegal without particulars or evidence, failing the required standard of proof for fraud/illegality.
Whether the Petitioner's constitutional rights were infringed
Yes - rights to fair administrative action under Article 47 and to property under Article 40 were violated by the notice issued without a hearing and the partial demolition
The Petitioner was never summoned or heard before the Enforcement Notice issued; the seven-day notice was unreasonable; a bulldozer partially demolished the perimeter wall. Rescinding approvals without hearing contravened Article 47 and Article 40 and section 25 of the Land Registration Act. The Petitioner met the Anarita Karimi Njeru precision threshold.
Legal principles established
#- A public authority that has granted development approvals cannot rescind them as illegal without notice and a hearing; doing so violates fair administrative action and property rights
- A party alleging fraud or illegality of approvals must specifically plead, particularize and prove it to a standard above balance of probabilities but below beyond reasonable doubt
- Exhaustion of statutory remedies is excused where the statutory appeal would be futile, such as where demolition is directed by a presidential directive through a multi-agency team beyond the appeal body's control, and where the appeal body lacks power to award damages
- A seven-day enforcement notice to demolish massive, long-completed structures does not meet the reasonableness threshold of Article 47 and denies fair hearing
Court orders
#- 1.Conservatory and declaratory orders restraining the 1st and 2nd Respondents and any other public officers acting on their instructions from entering, breaking, demolishing, destroying, evicting, defacing, flattening or in any way interfering with the Petitioner's Oshwal Religious Centre on LR. No.1870/1/119 Ring Road Nairobi
- 2.An order of Certiorari quashing the 1st Respondent's Enforcement Notice dated 11th July 2018
- 3.A declaration that the Enforcement Notice dated 11th July 2018 violated the rights of the Petitioner and its members and that the Respondents' actions and threatened actions are unconstitutional, invalid and an abuse of mandate, power and due process
- 4.A declaration that the threatened demolition of the whole or part of the Oshwal Religious Centre constitutes a violation of the Petitioner's constitutional rights to use and occupation of property and freedom from arbitrary loss of property or peaceful occupation
- 5.A declaration that the threatened demolition pursuant to the Enforcement Notice constitutes a violation of the Petitioner's constitutional rights to fair administrative action and fair hearing
- 6.Costs of the Petition awarded to the Petitioner
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Article 165(3) of the Constitution - enforcement of Bill of Rights before the Environment and Land Court
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.
- Haron Chepkilot Kipsang v Nairobi City County Government & 3 Others[2026] KEELC 6304 (KLR)2 Oct 2026
Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Shree Visa Oshwal Community Nairobi Registered Trustees v Nairobi City County & 2 others", Case Analysis (2023). Environment & Land Petition 49 of 2018. Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keelc/2023/20465/eng@2023-10-05
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.