Delta Govt. increases jurisdiction of magistrates
News & Trends •
the governor said that the order followed the recommendation of the state chief judge justice marshal umukoro1 mr timothy agbaragu the head public relationsprotocol department delta high court disclosed this in a statement made available to the news agency of nigeria nan on thursday in asaba1 okowa said the order was in exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 24 1 of the magistrate court law cap m1 vol. 3 laws of delta state 20061 the law empowers the governor to increase the jurisdiction of magistrates in civil and criminal matters1 by the order the maximum monetary limits of chief magistrates special grade chief magistrate grade 1 and chief magistrate grade 2 has been increased to n10 million n8 million and n5 million respectively1 senior magistrate grade 1 and senior magistrate grade 2 now have jurisdiction on matters within n3 million and n2 million1 magistrate grade 1 and grade 2 shall have jurisdiction on matters within in n1 million and n500 000 he stated1 the governor said the order took effect from aug. 20 20181 the recommendation provides that in all actions relating to landlord and tenant the claimant may in addition claim arrears of rent and the profits1 this is irrespective of the fact that the total claim exceeds the amount assigned to the cadre of magistrate concerned1 okowa also increased the criminal jurisdiction of magistrate courts to chief magistrate special grade1 the governor said that chief magistrate grade 1 and grade 2 were now empowered by the order to impose sentencesfines of 14 years or fine not less than n250 0001 he said they now had powers to impose sentences of 10 years or fines not less than n200 000 and six years imprisonment or fine not less than n150 0001 the governor said these were applicable where the law creating the offences did not make any specific provisions1 similarly senior magistrate grade 1 and 2 can now sentence convicts to four years and three years while their criminal jurisdiction has been expanded to sentence convicts to two years and one year1