Pratten and Commissioner of Taxation (Taxation)

The applicant, Pratten, sought a summons compelling the respondent, the Commissioner of Taxation, to produce certain documents. The core of the dispute concerned whether the Administrative Appeals Tribunal possessed the power to compel the Commissioner to obtain documents from another government agency when those documents were not already within the Commissioner's possession or control.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether it had the authority to issue a summons requiring the Commissioner to procure documents from a third-party government agency, notwithstanding that the Commissioner did not currently hold or control those documents. This involved considering the scope of the Tribunal's powers to compel the production of evidence under its enabling legislation.

The Senior Member, G Lazanas SM, reasoned that the Tribunal's power to issue a summons for the production of documents under section 33(1) of the *Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975* (Cth) is limited to documents that are in the possession or under the control of the person to whom the summons is directed. The Senior Member noted that the applicant had previously applied for a summons directed to both the Commissioner and the other government agency, and that application had been refused. Consequently, the Senior Member concluded that the Tribunal could not compel the Commissioner to procure documents from another agency.

The application for the issue of a summons to the respondent was refused.