Manandhar v Minister for Immigration

Manandhar sought judicial review of a decision by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) in the Federal Court of Australia. The dispute concerned the AAT's refusal to hear Mr. Manandhar's merits review application for a student visa, which had been lodged one day outside the statutory 21-day time limit. Mr. Manandhar contended that the AAT possessed a discretion to waive this time limit for compelling reasons.

The central legal issue before Dowdy J was whether the AAT had erred in law by concluding it lacked jurisdiction to hear the merits review application due to the late lodgement. Specifically, the court had to determine if the AAT had correctly interpreted and applied the relevant provisions of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) concerning time limits for merits review applications and whether any discretion existed to extend this period.

Dowdy J reasoned that the AAT had correctly considered the statutory framework governing merits review applications under the *Migration Act*. The judge found that the Act prescribed a strict 21-day time limit for lodging such applications, and that the AAT had no discretion to waive this requirement when the application was lodged outside this period. Consequently, no jurisdictional error was identified in the AAT's decision. The application for judicial review was therefore dismissed.