Decision making across judiciary institutions is a tough act. The judges, lawyers and all individuals associated with a court system are working towards a common goal, giving justice to those seeking it with evaluation of the all evidences. However, despite this common vision, judiciary systems face unprecedented challenges due to lack of transparency, trust and knowledge. More often than not, legal and judiciary systems in developing nations such as Zambia face challenges due to corruption and unethical practices within. A similar challenge was faced by Dr. Rajan Mahtani after he first approached the Zambian judiciary system.
Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani is a noted businessman and philanthropist in Zambia. For more than three decades, Dr. Rajan Mahtani has been relentlessly working towards development of ethical and transparent companies in Zambia. He even worked towards developing Portland Cement Zambia as a profitable and notable companies in Zambia before it was unethically taken over by the Ventriglia family. A case battle started at the Lusaka High Court which dragged for more than a decade. Despite this, the final decision from the Lusaka High Court was controversial with the Ventriglia family announced as only shareholder of the Portland Cement Zambia.
Dr. Rajan Mahtani then approached the higher Court of Appeal. The judge at the higher Court of Appeal gave the decision in favour of Dr. Rajan Mahtani by announcing him the majority shareholder of Portland Cement with 58 percent shares as well as legal owner. This decision from the higher Court of Appeal came on 31st January 2019 and after more than 1.5 years of this decision, the Ventriglia family decided to appeal against the decision. This decision was then taken to the Supreme Court Zambia wherein a bench of three SC judges was established for evaluating the claim. After evaluation, it was found that the Ventriglia family failed to register their claim within 14 days of the higher Court of Appeal’s decision. As such, their claim was effectively rejected by the Supreme Court Zambia.