The National Industrial Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State says it will commence hearing on an application brought by the defendant’s applicant bordering on the jurisdiction of the court to hear the substantive suit brought before it by over 700 members of dock workers against the terminal operators in Port Harcourt in April.
The trial judge, Justice Polylarp Hannaman stated this at the resumption of the matter, last Tuesday in Port Harcourt.
Justice Polycarp who was responding to the oral application by the defendant counsel in the matter, Angus Chukwuka (Esq) who drew the attention of the judge as the pending application added that they was also urging the court to strike out the entire suit because the applicants were met the original pasties in the matter.
The defense counsel also told the judge that the claimants through their lawyer had replied them in point of law and urged the court to consider the applications so that their prayers of striking out the suit could be upheld responding, the claimant’s lawyer Uche Ogwudu said (they had also filed their response to the applications on points of law adding that the motion had already been entertained by the former judge during the pendency stage of the matter.
According to him, the court cannot rule on the matter it had already ruled before in which it assumed jurisdiction to entertain and hear the matter before it, adding that what the defendant ought to approach the appeal court on the ruling and not to come back to the same court.
He averred that the industrial court had the jurisdiction to interpreted collective bargaining agreement between workers and their employers adding that it was the reason they approached the court to interpreted the bargaining agreement between his clients, dock workers Terminal A and the terminal operators all in Port Harcourt.