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England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions >> Khan, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2014] EWHC 2494 (Admin) (23 July 2014) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2014/2494.html Cite as: [2015] All ER 1057, [2015] 1 All ER 1057, [2014] EWHC 2494 (Admin), [2016] 1 WLR 747, [2015] Imm AR 94 |
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QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
____________________
The Queen (on the application of Azmat Rauf Khan) |
Claimant |
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- and - |
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The Secretary of State for the Home Department |
Defendant |
____________________
Mr Andrew Byass (instructed by The Treasury Solicitor) for the Defendant
Hearing date: 3rd July 2014
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Crown Copyright ©
Mr Justice Green :
A: Introduction: The issue
B: Facts
"No recourse to public funds.
Work (and any changes) must be authorised".
"Based on this advice I applied for a security industry licence from the SIA. I read all their guidance regarding issue of SIA licences. This specifically stated that a licence would only be issued after liaison with the UKBA to verify an applicant's entitlement to work. I was advised that I needed to do an SIA approved course and obtain an SIA badge/licence which cost me about £500 to £600 in total. I did that and then applied for a licence in or about mid to late 2009. It took a couple of months for the licence to be issued. Despite having obtained the licence, I was not able to get any actual security work for several months to start off with, and even thereafter I only got very limited shifts".
"There is no legal responsibility for the SIA to carry out right to work checks; that is the role of the employer. Whilst we have no legal duty to check the right to work of individuals in our licensing decisions, we are continually improving our processes to ensure as far as we reasonably can that SIA licence holders are not illegal workers.
Since July 2007, we have worked with the UK Border Agency (UKBA) to check the right to work in the United Kingdom of all SIA licence applicants who are non-EEA nationals.
We also check the right to work of SIA licence holders from outside the EEA (i.e. individuals who have met our licensing criteria and have been granted a licence). Where the recorded right to work of a licence holder expires before their SIA licence, a further check is undertaken with the UKBA.
Employers are reminded of their legal obligation to check their employees with restricted hours Visas do not work more hours than allowed, and that they know an employee's right to work expires before their SIA licence expires.
If the results of our checks suggest that the individual's right to work has indeed expired, we will write to inform them of our intention to revoke their SIA licence(s) unless they can demonstrate a renewed right to work. They have 21 days to provide this evidence: if we do not receive a response within 21 days the decision to revoke their licence will automatically take effect".
"The subject was referred to the Newham & Waltham LIT after being encountered at the Olympic Uniform Distribution and Accreditation Centre (UDAC). The subject presented his ppt as ID in order to collect accreditation as a member of AC Security Limited. It was noted that the subject had a work permit in his ppt.
The subject was questioned by CIO A Tulett who established from the subject that he works for Positive Financial Services as an account executive. He went on to state that he has been working with AP Security since 2010. Based on this information the subject was arrested by the police on suspicion of working in breach of his immigration conditions. The subject was taken to Leyton custody centre.
The subject was interviewed under caution at Leyton where he stated that he last entered the UK on 30/1/10, the subject travelled to Pakistan to visit family. The subject stated that when he arrived at Heathrow he presented his work permit and a letter from his employer confirming he was still employed with Positive Financial Services. The subject was issued with a Work Permit in July 2008 for employment as an Accounts Executive at Positive Financial Services for 60 months. The subject initially entered the UK in October 2008.
The subject confirmed that he started working for AP Security as a steward mid-2010 working on average 15-20 hours a week. The subject stated that he worked in the evenings after his regular job as a means of earning more income as he had the time to do it after his 9am-5pm work. He stated that he could not get other work within his field.
Whilst the subject was arrested for committing an offence under section 10(1)(a) of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 for working in breach of his leave conditions I was mindful that the subject stated that he is still working full time for the employer on the work permit, he has not changed employer, he has not stopped his work as an accounts executive, when he arrived back to the UK his circumstances had not changed and he had not employed deception at any stage. The case was referred to CIO J Bernthal, CIO R Jones and HMI S Blackwood who all offered differing opinions but collectively were not sure where an offence had been committed, it was not initially clear how the subject was in breach of his conditions. It was decided that the subject should be served an IS151A for breaching the conditions of his leave, however it was decided to give the subject TR to establish if the subject is still currently working with Positive Financial Services, as this would give clear clarification that the subject was in breach of his condition. It was subsequently established by CIO R Jones that the rules of supplementary employment are the subject can undertaken supplementary employment if it is outside your normal working hours; it is no more than 20 hours a week; it is in the same profession and at the same professional level for which your work permit was issued; and you are not employed by a recruitment agency, employment agency or similar business to provide personnel to a client.
The subject was requested to report to Becket House on 9/5/12. After discussing the case with HMI Blackwood I was instructed to detain the subject when he attended Becket House on the basis that he is not conducting employment in the same professional level as stated from the employment on the work permit as this constitutes a breach. I stated that the subject has not changed employment (given that the entry clearance states any change need to be authorised) and that the subject has not employed deception with regard to entry into the UK or continuing to work for his employer and that the issue of supplementary employment is not one contained within paragraph 128-135 of the Immigration Rules that were valid at the time the subject was issued LTE. It was not clear if this was guidance or a matter that constituted an offence under the legislation. Also it was discussed if this was a matter which was apparent to the subject whilst the E/C states work changes must be authorised is it a notion that is clear if the subject could only do work at the same level (given that the officers that had the case referred to them were unsure I would suggest not). I was instructed to detain the subject regardless of the points raised to HMI Blackwood.
CIO R Jones referred the matter to the Immigration Border and Policy Directorate who felt that this matter would be classed as a breach of the subject's conditions.
The subject attended Becket House on 9/5/12 where he was served with an IS151A pt 2 and IS91 where he was detained (detention authorised by CIO R Jones)".
"You are specifically considered a person who has breached the conditions of your leave to enter the UK".
"Your removal from the United Kingdom is imminent. You do not have enough close ties (e.g. family or friends) to make it likely that you will stay in one place".
"He [the Immigration Officer] went through the same questioning with me and then went off and spoke to his colleagues. He came back to me and told me that I would be detained. He also said that he had debated this issue with his superiors and clearly told me that ordinarily in this type of scenario, where a person is maintaining their job for which the work permit is issued, is found to be working elsewhere as well then a warning is normally issued. He explained to me that although I was allowed to do up to 20 hours supplementary work it had to be in the same field of work." (Emphasis added).
"Do take note that should the Secretary of State fail to (a) disclose to us before the close of business today 10 May 2012, the basis of her decision to detain our client, we will commence action on an application for a judicial review against the decision of the Secretary of State without further notice to yourselves (b) failure to release our client from detention by 12 Noon on 11 May 2012 and (c) failure by the Secretary of State to grant our client without further delay, an in-country right of appeal to the First tier Tribunal".
C: Statutory and Regulatory context
(a) Paragraphs 128-135 Immigration Rules
"Requirement for leave to enter the United Kingdom for work permit employment
128. The requirements to be met by a person coming to the United Kingdom to seek or take employment (unless he is otherwise eligible for admission for employment under these Rules or is eligible for admission as a seaman under contract to join a ship due to leave British waters) are that he:
(i) holds a valid Home Office work permit; and
(ii) is not of an age which puts him outside the limits for employment; and
(iii) is capable of undertaking the employment specified in the work permit; and
(iv) does not intend to take employment except as specified in his work permit; and
(v) is able to maintain and accommodate himself and any dependants adequately without recourse to publicly funds; and
(vi) in the case of a person in possession of a work permit which is valid for a period of 12 months or less, intends to leave the United Kingdom at the end of his approved employment; and
(vii) holds a valid United Kingdom entry clearance for entry in this capacity…
Leave to enter for work permit employment
129. A person seeking leave to enter the United Kingdom for the purpose of work permit employment may be admitted for a period not exceeding the period of employment approved by the Home Office (as specified in his work permit), subject to a condition restricting him to that approved employment, provided he is able to produce to the Immigration Officer, on arrival, a valid United Kingdom entry clearance for entry in this capacity or, where entry clearance is not required, provided the Immigration Officer is satisfied that each of the requirements in paragraph 128(i) – (vi) is met.
Refusal of leave to enter for employment
130. Leave to enter for the purpose of work permit employment is to be refused if a valid United Kingdom entry clearance for entry in this capacity is not produced to the Immigration Officer on arrival or, where entry clearance is not required, if the Immigration Officer is not satisfied that each of the requirements at paragraph 128(i) – (vi) is met".
(emphasis added)
(b) The Supplementary employment guidelines.
"This page explains whether you are allowed to do any other work outside your normal working hours covered by your work permit.
You can undertake work if:
It is outside your normal working hours;
It is no more than 20 hours a week;
It is in the same profession and at the same professional level for which your work permit was issued; and
You are not employed by a recruitment agency, employment agency or similar business to provide personnel to a client".
(Emphasis in original)
"The question remains whether DP5/96 was a statement of practice within the meaning of section 3(2).
If a concessionary policy statement says that the applicable rule will always be relaxed in specified circumstances, it may be difficult to avoid the conclusion that the statement is itself a rule "as to the practice to be followed" within the meaning of section 3(2) which should be laid before Parliament. But if the statement says that the rule may be relaxed if certain conditions are satisfied, but that whether it will be relaxed depends on all the circumstances of the case, then in my view it does not fall within the scope of section 3(2). Such a statement does no more than say when a rule or statutory provision may be relaxed. I have referred to DP5/96 at para 9 above. It was not a statement of practice within the meaning of section 3(2). It made clear that it was important that each case had to be considered on its merits and that certain specified factors might (not would) be of particular relevance in reaching a decision. It was not a statement as to the circumstances in which overstayers would be allowed to stay. It did not have to be laid before Parliament".
(c) Section 10 Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
"10. Removal of certain persons unlawfully in the United Kingdom
E+W+S+N.I.This sectionnoteType=Explanatory Notes has no associated (1) A person who is not a British citizen may be removed from the United Kingdom, in accordance with directions given by an immigration officer, if —
(a) having only a limited leave to enter or remain, he does not observe a condition attached to the leave or remains beyond the time limited by the leave;
[(b) he uses deception in seeking (whether successfully or not) leave to remain;]
[(ba) his indefinite leave to enter or remain has been revoked under section 76(3) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 (person ceasing to be a refugee); or]
(c) directions have been given for the removal, under this section, of a person to whose family he belongs.
…
(7) In relation to any such directions, paragraphs 10, 11, 16 to 18, 21 and 22 to 24 of Schedule 2 to the 1971 Act (administrative provisions as to control of entry), apply as they apply in relation to directions given under paragraph 8 of that Schedule.
(8) When a person is notified that a decision has been made to remove him in accordance with this section, the notification invalidates any leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom previously given to him".
(Emphasis added)
(d) Rights of appeal
D: Claimant's grounds
E: The legal effect of the order requiring the Claimant to be released from detention
"An order to quash the defendant's decision to detain the Claimant. An order granting the Claimant temporary release until his case is decided and any rights of appeal exercised".
F: The existence of an alternative remedy
(a) Khawaja v Home Secretary [1984] 1 AC 74
"An allegation that he has done so being of a serious character and involving issues of personal liberty, requires a corresponding degree of satisfaction as to the evidence. If the court is not satisfied with any part of the evidence it may remit the matter for reconsideration or itself receive further evidence. It should quash the detention order where the evidence was not such as the authorities should have relied on or where the evidence received does not justify the decision reached or, of course, for any serious procedural irregularity".
"... we are here concerned with, the scope of judicial review of a power which inevitably infringes the liberty of those subjected to it. This consideration, if it be good, outweighs, in my judgment, any difficulties in the administration of immigration control to which the application of the principle might give rise".
"106. My Lords, we should, I submit, regard with extreme jealously any claim by the executive to imprison a citizen without trial and allow it only if it is clearly justified by the statutory language relied on. The fact that, in the case we are considering, detention is preliminary and incidental to expulsion from the country in my view strengthens rather than weakens the case for a robust exercise of the judicial function in safeguarding the citizen's rights.
107. So far as I know, no case before the decisions under the Act which we are presently considering has held imprisonment without trial by executive order to be justified by anything less than the plainest statutory language, with the sole exception of the majority decision of your Lordships' House in Liversidge v Anderson [1942] AC 206. No one needs to be reminded of the now celebrated dissenting speech of Lord Atkin in that case, nor of his withering condemnation of the process of writing into the statutory language there under consideration the words which were necessary to sustain the decision of the majority. Lord Atkin's dissent now has the approval of your Lordships' House in IRC v Rossminster Ltd [1980] AC 952.
108. A person who has entered the United Kingdom with leave and who is detained under Schedule 2 paragraph 16(2) pending removal as an illegal entrant on the ground that he obtained leave to enter by fraud is entitled to challenge the action taken and proposed to be taken against him both by application for habeas corpus and by application for judicial review. On the view I take, paragraph 9 of Schedule 2 must be construed as meaning no more and no less than it says. There is no room for any implication qualifying the words "illegal entrant". From this it would follow that while, prima facie, the order for detention under paragraph 16(2) would be a sufficient return to the writ of habeas corpus, proof by the applicant that he had been granted leave to enter would shift the onus back to the immigration officer to prove that the leave had been obtained in contravention of section 26(1 )(c) of the Act, in other words by fraud".
"14. It must be remembered that, in spite of the court's decision, affirming that of the immigration officer that the illegal immigrant be removed from this country, it will still be open to him to appeal under section 16 of the 1971 Act to an adjudicator against the decision to remove him. The fact that he is not entitled to appeal so long as he is in this country - section 16(2) - puts him at a serious disadvantage, but I do not think it is proper to regard the right of appeal as worthless. At least the possibility remains that there may be cases, rare perhaps, where an appeal to the adjudicator might still succeed".
(b) Secretary of State for the Home Department v R (Lim) [2007] EWCA Civ 733
"17. The decision in Khawaja does not turn on either discretion or exceptionality. ... Khawaja, far from being distinguishable ... enshrines a principle of law which supersedes any question of judicial discretion. The principle is that a decision taken without power is no decision at all. Khawaja establishes that the non-existence of a precedent fact relating to immigration status can deprive the decision-maker of power to decide and render any purported decision void. The only, or at least the most appropriate, forum competent to decide the existence of precedent fact is the High Court, since the issue goes to jurisdiction. …
18. This approach finds cogent support in Wade and Forsyth Administrative Law (9th ed., 2004), 252-264. But whether something is in truth a precedent fact, absent which the decision-maker has no power to decide anything, or is one of the matters confided, at least initially, to the decision-maker himself, has to depend on the terms of the empowering provision, in this case s.10 of the 1999 Act.
19. It is plain, in my judgment, that there are some material facts upon which the application of s.10 depends and which it cannot be for an immigration officer, subject only to an out-of-country appeal, to decide. The section permits removal only of "a person who is not a British citizen". If the person whom it proposed to remove claims to be a British citizen, there can be no doubt that he or she has an immediate right of recourse to the High Court to prevent removal. I am entirely unable to accept the Home Secretary's contention that an individual whose claim to be a British citizen is disbelieved by an immigration officer must accept removal to a country where he may have neither work nor family nor accommodation and conduct an appeal from there in which, by virtue of s.3(8) of the Immigration Act 1971, the onus lies on him to prove citizenship. The same, in my opinion, must be the case where identity is in issue: if the person whom it is proposed to remove denies being the person it is intended to remove, the High Court must have an unfettered power to decide the question. Both classes of issue, in my judgment, rank as precedent fact".
"20. Is the non-observance of a condition of leave to remain in the same class? It differs from citizenship and identity in that it is expressed in s.10 as a condition, rather than a precondition, of removal. But I do not think that this can count for a great deal: the drafter might just as easily have put the conditions the other way round, predicating the provision for removal on a breach of condition but requiring in addition the absence of British citizenship. A greater difficulty is that if Mr de Mello is right, every element of s.10 is a matter of precedent fact – not only identity and nationality but non-observance of a condition, overstaying, deception, revocation of indefinite leave and family membership. Even so, one has to ask: why not? Many of these issues are, or may involve questions which are, entirely apt for determination in a court of law: whether a revocation of leave was lawful, for example, or whether what was done amounted to deception, or whether a person "belongs" to the family of someone who is to be removed.
21. This said, some s.10 issues, among them whether a foreign catering worker was working in the wrong restaurant, will be pure questions of fact. If Mr de Mello is to succeed on his fundamental argument, therefore, he has to establish that everything which s.10 lays down as making removal permissible is justiciable without regard to the s.84 appeal mechanism. I do not think that it is possible to do this without disregarding the manifest purpose of s.82 of the 2002 Act, since the effect would be that the right of appeal had effect only where the individual concerned chose not to raise his or her challenge by way of judicial review".
"22. The only coherent solution, it seems to me, is to continue to regard every question arising under s.10 as in principle both appealable and reviewable (see Swati, above, at 485G), but to calibrate the use of judicial review, through the exercise of judicial discretion, to the nature of the issue or issues. In this way – and, so far as I can see, in no other way – the High Court can remain loyal to what was decided in Khawaja by consistently retaining jurisdiction to determine the existence of preconditions of liability to removal, as well as other questions of law apt for the High Court's determination, but can also respect the policy of s.82 by declining to entertain challenges on issues more apt for the appeal mechanism, whatever its hardships".
"24. This argument depends upon the well-established principle, not confined to the immigration field, to which I referred earlier in this judgment: that where a statutory channel of appeal exists, in the absence of special or exceptional factors the High Court will refuse in the exercise of its discretion to entertain an application for judicial review. It is, I would add, important in the field of public law that the discretion of the judge as gatekeeper should be exercised with reasonable consistency and predictability, so that two individuals with similar claims should not find that one is heard and the other turned away.
25. It is clear, accordingly, that a question such as whether a person is who the immigration officer thinks he or she is, or is a British citizen, ought – consistently with what was decided in Khawaja – to be determined by the High Court if application is duly made to it. It will ordinarily be wrong, in other words, to exercise the court's discretion adversely to the claimant in such cases. But there is no simple yardstick of how far into the other possible grounds of appeal this proposition penetrates. All that I think one can say is that there is no necessary or logical cut-off at issues of fact, but that such issues are rarely likely in practice to escape the adverse exercise of discretion indicated by cases such as Swati. Were it otherwise, the courts would be emptying Parliament's prescribed procedure of content".
(c) R (on the application of RK (Nepal)) v SSHD [2009] EWCA Civ 359
"33. The importance of that decision lies in its emphasis on the appeal structure that Parliament has laid down in the 2002 Act with respect to various types of "immigration decision". The courts must respect that framework, which is not open to challenge in the courts by way of judicial review unless there are "special or exceptional factors" at play. Therefore, except when such "special or exceptional factors" can successfully be invoked so as to give rise to a right to judicial review, the court must accept that an out of country right of appeal is regarded by Parliament as an adequate safeguard for those who are removed under section 10 of the 1999 Act.
34. It is plain in this case that the immigration decisions made against the applicants were under section 10(1)(a) of the 1999 Act. That is what was stated in the form IS151A that was served on each of the applicants. There is no issue concerning their non–British citizenship. It is also clear, as a matter of fact, that the reason for the removal from the UK in accordance with directions given by an immigration officer is that they have both obtained limited leave to enter and remain in the UK and that this leave was subject to conditions. They have broken those conditions in the manner I have already described. Those facts falls all squarely within section 10(1)(a) of the 1999 Act.
35. It must follow from the Court of Appeal's decision in Lim that the court has to respect the fact that the "immigration decision" against the applicants that was stated to be made under section 10 of the 1999 Act was just that. Therefore, it must fall within section 82(2)(g) of the 2002 Act and so must only be capable of appeal out of country. I agree with Deputy High Court Judge Dove QC that a decision made under section 10(1) of the 1999 Act cannot fall within section 82(2)(e), when Parliament has stipulated that it falls within section 82(2)(g). It is, in my view, irrelevant that the SSHD might have made a decision to curtail the applicants' leave under the Immigration Rules, thus bringing the case within section 82(2)(e). She did not do so and there is no challenge in these proceedings to the fact that the decision to remove was made under section 10".
(d) Anwar v SSHD [2010] EWCA Civ 1275
"24. In the judicial review proceedings brought by Ms Pengeyo…a challenge was made to the decision of the Home Secretary to use the deception route, enabling her effectively to stifle any appeal, rather than the variation route carrying a right of an in-country appeal. Judge Thornton QC, rightly in my judgment, granted permission to argue this. Had it been sought, permission would also have properly been granted to argue that the election of the Home Office, having used the deception route, to take the out-of-country point in order to stifle an appeal was a serious abuse of power. Once it is established that the point is good only when taken, to take it in order to prevent the exposure of a shameful decision – the effective criminalising and enforced removal of an innocent person without either worthwhile evidence or the opportunity to answer – is without justiciable by way of judicial review".
(e) R (on the application of Hom Bahadur Thapa) v SSHD [2014] EWHC 659 (Admin)
"41. The challenge in this case is not to a question of law or fact which would also be apt for consideration before the First Tier Tribunal. The focus of a decision of the FTT would be the merits and legality of the decision under section 10(1)(a) IAA, not to the question of whether the decision to adopt this (rather than some other, or no) enforcement action was lawful and appropriate".
"The questions in this case are about how the immigration officer went about exercising her discretion as to what if any enforcement action to take; what if any steps were required by way of giving of reasons in circumstances where it was decided to take some such action; and whether it was rational to do so in the circumstances given apparent policies to the contrary" (ibid paragraph [42]).
"45. I note the observations of the High Court in R v Huntingdon District Council ex parte Cowan [1984] 1 WLR 501 at 507:
"... the court should always ask itself whether the remedy that is sought in court or the alternative remedy is the most effective and convenient in all the circumstances, not merely for the [claimant], but in the public interest".
The proliferation of alternative remedies and statutory tribunals in the intervening thirty years does not detract from the relevance of those words".
(f) R (on the application of Mohamed Bilal Jan) v SSHD (Section 10 removal) IJR [2014] UKUT 00265 (IAC)
(g) R (on the application of Christopher Willford) v Financial Service Authority [2013] EWCA Civ 677
"In my view the judge did err in law in this case because he failed properly to identify the legislative intention behind the regulatory scheme embodied in the Act and so failed to appreciate that there was available to Mr. Willford an alternative remedy that was a more appropriate means of challenging the Decision Notice".
G. A summary of the relevant principles
i) The High Court retains a residual discretion to hear judicial review cases even where there exists a parallel statutory appeal to the First tier Tribunal whether that appeal is an in-country, or, an out-of-country, appeal.ii) However, judicial review is a remedy of last resort. Where a suitable statutory appeal procedure is available the High Court will exercise its discretion in all but special or exceptional cases by declining to entertain an application for judicial review (Lim; Willford).
iii) As an exception to this there is a category of case, defined as relating to precedent facts, where the High Court will assume jurisdiction. These include certain facts upon which the application of the jurisdiction to exercise the power under section 10 decision depends (Khawaja, Lim).
iv) In cases of precedent fact the High Court has jurisdiction in addition to that of the statutory Tribunal.
v) Examples of "precedent facts" include: (i) a claim by a person proposed to be removed that he was, in fact, a British citizen; (ii) where the person whom it is proposed to remove denies being the person it is intended to remove (Lim).
vi) In principle proof of observance, or breach, of conditions attached to entry clearances might, de facto, operate as precedent facts. However, were every case of alleged breach of condition to amount to a precedent fact conferring jurisdiction upon the High Court this would undermine the statutory scheme which allocates to persons subject to removal decision based upon alleged breach of condition an out of country appeal and not an in-country right of appeal or judicial review and hence the High Court needed to be cautious in treating all alleged breaches of conditions as precedent fact cases (Lim; RK (Nepal).
vii) In exercising its power to exercise supervisory (judicial review) jurisdiction in this field the High Court must be aware that Parliament has deliberately allocated primary responsibility for determining disputes surrounding immigration and asylum decisions to the Tribunal system and that it would therefore run counter to the will of Parliament for the High Court routinely to assume to itself disputes about matters falling, prima facie, within the appellate Tribunal structure (Lim; RK (Nepal); Jan).
viii) The High Court would therefore only exercise its supervisory judicial review powers in special or exceptional cases (Lim; RK (Nepal); Jan).
ix) The Court will need to examine carefully the "nature" of the issues in dispute (Lim). Examples of exceptional or special cases where the High Court might accept jurisdiction include where there is generally reprehensible or abusive conduct on the part of the Defendant (Anwar).
x) The mere fact that Parliament has chosen to introduce an appellate procedure which can operate harshly, for example in relation to out-of-country appeals, is not in itself a special or exceptional reason for the High Court to assume jurisdiction. Were it otherwise the system of out-of-country appeals would be rendered toothless given that in many cases the out-of-country procedure operates to the disadvantage of the appellant. If this were a factor militating in favour of judicial review that would serve to trigger a judicial review in the vast majority (if not all) section 10 cases (Lim; RK (Nepal); Jan). The same applies where the High Court takes the view that it is more effective and convenient for it to hear the case; this is however not a good reason to assume jurisdiction (Willford).
xi) The fact that an appeal might raise issues of public importance or significance, is not, per se, a special or exceptional reason for the High Court to determine the matter by way of a judicial review (Jan).
xii) Disputes over such matters as whether the Secretary of State correctly deployed the enforcement procedure under section 10 (and thereby precluded an in-country appeal) instead of the less draconian curtailment procedure are equally not special or exceptional and are apt to be determined by the Tribunal which has jurisdiction to determine whether the SSHD acted lawfully and fairly (RK (Nepal); Jan).
xiii) It must necessarily follow from the above that the fact that detention (or other collateral) issues are raised as part of a judicial review which are not the due subject of the jurisdiction of the Tribunal are not a reason to allow all or any of the related removal decisions to be brought into the High Court. To conclude otherwise would provide a powerful incentive for a Claimant, who has been subject to detention, to advance a detention challenge and claim in order to lever an otherwise inadmissible disputed removal decision into the High Court. Parliament has allotted disputes over immigration and asylum decisions to the Tribunal but not all detention decisions (the Tribunal has power to determine bail pending an appeal but not issues relating to damages for wrongful detention). It would run contrary to the will of Parliament for the High Court to allow detention to act as a Trojan horse to bring impugned removal decisions within the citadel of judicial review.
H: Analysis: Whether exceptional circumstances exist?
"42. Inadvertent error: Ms Van Overdijk, for the SSHD did not suggest that the correctness of the Claimants explanation of inadvertent error was something that this Court had to rule upon. She submitted that regardless of whether that explanation was true or false, the position of the SSHD was still the logical and correct one. This was, as set out in the Decision, that it was the responsibility of all applicants to ensure that they abided by the rules. The SSHD could not possibly be responsible for prompting applicants or cajoling them into action. The onus lay squarely on each applicant to ensure that they knew what the rules were. Although she did not address the merits of the Claimants position she did not hide her scepticism pointing out that in any event on his own evidence the Claimant had learned of his error in January 2012 (see paragraph [3] above) but it was not until June 2012 that he got around to making an application to remain. In the interim he made efforts to seek the requisite English language skills certificate but he failed to obtain certification from an approved source and Ms van Overdijk referred to the well know problems that the SSHD confronts in the form of bogus educational establishments providing certificates that are unreliable as evidence of linguistic proficiency. I agree with the statement of principle which Ms van Overdijk articulated and which is reflected in paragraph [21] of the Decision. It is not for the SSHD to prompt applicants; the responsibility for complying with the rules lies with applicants themselves. I would actually go one step further. It seems to me that in principle it cannot be right that a person can acquire additional rights through inadvertence relative to a person who is diligent and who observes the rules. A rule which rewarded dilatoriness or forgetfulness would create a powerful if not overwhelming perverse incentive on applicants to suffer selective amnesia or carelessness. The fact that the Claimant overstayed his permission by a very lengthy period of time, whether through inadvertence or otherwise, is not a factor which can either (at least normally in the absence of some fairly exceptional circumstances – which do not arise here) weigh in his favour or be neutral; it is a fact against the applicant".
I: The merits of the application for judicial review
"58. I have not found this an easy question to answer. As a matter of first impression, the answer to the question is obvious: the unlawful decisions under sections 3(5)(a) and 5(1) did bear upon and were relevant to the decision to detain: without the prior decisions there could have been no decision to detain. But this approach does not pay sufficient regard to the statutory scheme as a whole. Making a deportation order is a two-stage process. First the Secretary of State must serve notice of the decision to make a deportation order. The notice explains that there is a right of appeal under section 82(1) against the decision, and sets out of the grounds of appeal under section 84(1). Those grounds are not limited to the ground that removal in consequence of the decision would be unlawful under the Refugee Convention or the ECHR, they enable the person served with the notice to challenge the lawfulness of the notice on the basis of any breach of a rule of public law: "that the decision is otherwise not in accordance with the law"… If there is an appeal the Secretary of State may not proceed to the second stage of the process – the making of the deportation order - until the appeal has been finally determined…".
"60. In the great majority of cases, the mere fact that an appeal has been allowed under section 82(1) will not mean that the decision to make the deportation order was unlawful in a way which was relevant to the decision to detain. An appeal may be allowed because, e.g. the Tribunal takes a different view as to the proportionality of an interference with an appellant's rights under article 8 of the ECHR, or because, with the benefit of further evidence, the Tribunal reaches a different conclusion as to the risk of persecution on removal, the application of a particular immigration rule, or the manner in which a discretion should have been exercised under the rules. There will, however, be some cases where appeals are allowed by the Tribunal on the basis that there was a breach of a rule of public law in the process of making the decision to make the order, where the nature of the breach will have been such as to render the detention unlawful. Examples of such breaches are mentioned in Ullah: where the Tribunal concludes that the appellant was not a person liable to deportation, or the decision to make a deportation order was made in bad faith… It must, however, be acknowledged that it is difficult to identify any principled basis for distinguishing between those public law errors which will render the decision to detain unlawful and those which will not".
J. Conclusion