Justice Martin Muya on Wednesday moved to the Supreme Court in a bid to overturn a decision by special tribunal formed which proposed that he be removed from office.

Through his lawyer Phillip Nyachoti, Justice Muya argued in the court that the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) lacked the mandate to instigate his removal from office.

A tribunal headed by Justice Alnashir Visram on March 20 last year proposed to President Uhuru Kenyatta that the judge leaves office after finding him guilty of gross misconduct.

The 7-member team presented a report to Uhuru after finding that Muya delayed for 5 months, reasons for his May 30, 2017 ruling in a commercial case between NIC Bank and Kipsigis Stores.

When pressed on the matter, Justice Muya’s lawyer told the court that the reasons for his delayed verdict were finally issued on November 3, 2017.

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But the justice argued in court that the tribunal did not observe the principal of fair administration, erred in its decision and did not accord him a fair trial.

According to Nyachoti, other cases before the judge delayed as Muya a backlog of cases, then in between he proceeded on leave while also tackling cases before Kericho High Court.

However, State Counsel Oscar Eredi asked the court to throw out Muya’s appeal arguing that he failed to give a satisfactory explanation for his actions.

Eredi also denied claims in court by Muya’s lawyer that no petition was filed before JSC terming it tenuous.

“The totality of the allegations on the judge refusing to give reasons of the ruling amount to gross misconduct and that is why the tribunal came to the conclusion that he be removed from the judiciary because of misconduct,” Eredi told the court.