2014
COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
United Kingdom
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The case revolves around six asylum seekers challenging the Secretary of State's refusal to either grant leave to remain or remove them under the legacy programme. The court upheld the previous decisions, declaring no binding commitment to conclude cases under the legacy programme, that delay does not amount to unlawfulness, and that the doctrine of legitimate expectation does not create additional rights for legacy cases.
Judgment
Lord Justice Davis :
Introduction
These are all so-called “legacy” cases. Five of them are conjoined applications for permission to appeal from an order of Simler J dated 20 December 2013 whereby she dismissed the applications of SH and NA for judicial review and refused to grant AN, SJ and BA permission to apply for judicial review: [2013] EWHC 4113 (Admin) . The sixth case is an appeal from an order of 25 June 2013 of Mr Justice Lewis refusing the applicant, BA (Ethiopia), permission to apply for judicial review: [2013] EWHC 3334 (Admin) .
Elias LJ granted permission to appeal in the case of BA (Ethiopia) on 18 February 2014. In the other five applications, the court (Underhill LJ and Sir Stanley Burnton) after an oral hearing on 15 July 2014 directed that the five applications for permission to appeal, in limited respects, should be listed to be heard together with the appeal in BA (Ethiopia). It was made clear in the judgment of Underhill LJ, with whom Sir Stanley Burnton agreed, that he had reservations as to the viability of the argument being advanced; but the court left the points to be decided at the same time as the hearing of the appeal of BA (Ethiopia) and so did not itself grant permission. The court on that occasion also rejected as not arguable certain other grounds of appeal sought to be advanced, and so refused permission to appeal on those aspects.
The common issue, and the principal (although not sole) issue, arising on these various applications and this appeal can be formulated in this way: was there an obligation, in the form of a commitment, on the part of the Secretary of State to “conclude” cases falling within the legacy programme relating to asylum cases either by the grant of leave to remain or by effecting the removal of the applicant from the United Kingdom? The Secretary of State says there was and is no such commitment. The applicants and appellant say there was and is: accordingly, they say, because none of the applicants and appellant has been removed each is entitled to, or at least to be considered for, a grant of leave.
The principal argument on the point was advanced by Mr Hugh Southey QC (who had not appeared below) leading Mr Paul Turner (who had appeared below) for the five applicants. Mr Turner also appeared for the appellant, as he had below. He adopted Mr Southey’s oral arguments and advanced certain others specific to the case of the appellant. Ms Julie Anderson appeared for the Secretary of S