CAK15 v Minister for Immigration

The applicant, CAK15, sought judicial review of a decision by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) which affirmed the Minister for Immigration's refusal to grant a Protection (Class XA) Visa. The core of the dispute concerned whether the AAT had committed a jurisdictional error in its handling of the applicant's case.

The central legal issue before the court was whether the AAT had made a jurisdictional error by failing to make an obvious inquiry or to inform the applicant of their ability to do so, in circumstances where such an inquiry or information might have been relevant to the applicant's claim for protection.

Judge Antoni Lucev found that the AAT had indeed committed a jurisdictional error. The Tribunal's failure to make an obvious inquiry, which would have clarified a crucial aspect of the applicant's claim, and its omission to inform the applicant of their ability to provide further information on this point, amounted to a failure to afford the applicant procedural fairness. This failure meant the AAT had not properly considered the applicant's case, thereby vitiating its decision.

Consequently, the court set aside the AAT's decision and remitted the matter to the AAT for redetermination according to law.