Rafiq v Secretary for Internal Affairs

The Court of Appeal of New Zealand heard five applications from Razdan Rafiq, who sought to stay or extend time in five related appeals. The respondents included the Secretary for Internal Affairs, Baycorp PDL (NZ) Limited, Latitude Financial Services Limited, Supercity Towing Limited, and the Disputes Tribunal at Auckland. The legal issues revolved around the applicability of rule 44A of the Court of Appeal (Civil) Rules 2005 for staying an appeal, the jurisdiction of the Court to grant a stay when the appellant themselves apply, and the principles governing an extension of time for appealing under rule 29A of the Rules. The Court found that rule 44A does not apply to an appellant's application for a stay and declined the stay applications for want of jurisdiction. The Court also declined Rafiq's application for an extension of time, finding that the delay was short and no credible reasons were provided for the delay. The interests of justice did not favour granting an extension of time.

The Court ordered Rafiq to file submissions addressing whether the Court should strike out CA518/2024, CA556/2024, CA597/2024 and CA624/2024 by 2 July 2025. Rafiq must also pay the second respondent in CA527/2024 costs for a standard application on a band A basis, together with usual disbursements.