Legal Research
Cases
Tehrani v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Scotland)

Tehrani v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Scotland)

Case [2006] UKHL 47

No judgment structure available for this case.

Type to search within this case.

Legislation operating throughout the United Kingdom sometimes makes provision for appeals to appellate tribunals which, like the legislation itself, operate throughout the whole of the United Kingdom. Similarly with legislation operating throughout Great Britain. Employment, taxation and immigration are instances. In these fields the primary remedy available to a citizen aggrieved by a departmental decision is to appeal against the decision in accordance with the appeal structure set out in the legislation. In the ordinary course that is the route an aggrieved party should follow.

Occasionally a citizen wishes to challenge a decision of a tribunal in respect of which he has no right of appeal. He wishes to apply for judicial review of the tribunal's decision. But to which court should he make his application? If the taxation affairs of a Scottish taxpayer are dealt with by a commissioner sitting in England, should the taxpayer apply to the Court of Session in Edinburgh or the High Court of Justice in London?

Take a more complicated example. Take a case where a claimant for asylum is living in Scotland. An adjudicator in Glasgow dismisses his appeal against the Secretary of State's refusal of asylum. The Immigration Appeal Tribunal sitting in London then refuses the claimant permission to appeal. Clearly an application for judicial review of these two decisions should be heard by one court, either by the Court of Session in Scotland or the High Court in England. It would make no sense if the Court of Session were to review the decision of the adjudicator and the High Court were to review the decision of the Immigration Appeal Tribunal. But which court should this be, and on what principle should the choice be made? These are the questions arising on this appeal.

The present case: the factual background

The appellant, Mr Behrouz Tehrani, is a citizen of Iran. On 24 March 2001 he flew into London City airport and claimed asylum. He was given temporary admission pending a decision on his application and provided with temporary hotel accommodation in London. He stayed there for a month until the Secretary of State required him to move to Glasgow under the statutory dispersal scheme. On 19 April 2001 Mr Tehrani was allocated accommodation in a local authority flat in Glasgow. Since then he has lived continuously in Glasgow.

On 11 May 2001 the Immigration and Nationality Directorate of the Home Office at Croydon refused Mr Tehrani's application. The directorate sent Mr Tehrani a letter setting out the reasons why the Secretary of State was not satisfied Mr Tehrani had established a well-founded fear of persecution. On 16 May an immigration officer of the UK Immigration Service at London City airport gave Mr Tehrani formal notice refusing him leave to enter the United Kingdom. Mr Tehrani was told that directions would be given for his removal on a scheduled flight to Iran upon a date and time to be arranged.

Two days later, on 18 May 2001, notice of appeal was given…

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

Continue reading Tehrani v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Scotla...

Details

Case: [2006] UKHL 47
Decision Date