Altaranesi v Administrative Decisions Tribunal

In *Altaranesi v Administrative Decisions Tribunal*, the appellant sought to appeal a decision of the Appeal Panel of the Administrative Decisions Tribunal to the Court of Appeal. The core of the dispute concerned the scope of the appeal available to the appellant under section 119 of the *Administrative Decisions Tribunal Act 1997* (NSW).

The legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether it possessed the jurisdiction to extend the scope of the appeal to include a review of the merits of the case, or whether its jurisdiction was limited to questions of law. The appellant also raised allegations of fraud in the decision-making process.

Campbell JA held that the right of appeal under section 119 of the *ADT Act* was confined to questions of law. While allegations of acting outside jurisdiction or breaching natural justice could arguably constitute questions of law, and certain procedural errors might also be matters of law, the Court of Appeal's jurisdiction did not extend to reviewing the merits of the case. The Court noted that allegations of fraud, being factually dependent, could not be agitated in an appeal under section 119. Instead, such claims must be pursued through an action in the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. Consequently, the application to extend the scope of the appeal to review the merits was rejected. The costs of the application were ordered to be costs in the appeal.