Manu, R (on the application of) v Secretary Of State For Home Department

Judicial review must be sought promptly. A very long delay, coupled with an unconvincing explanation, may mean that an application for permission to appeal has no realistic prospect of success. The court may also examine the papers and conclude that the substantive case has no merit. The decision illustrates the strict approach taken to delay in judicial review proceedings.

The applicant sought permission to appeal from Sullivan J’s decision of 15 June 2001. The judgment records that the Immigration Appeal Tribunal had dismissed the applicant’s appeal from a Special Adjudicator’s determination on 24 November 1997. The judicial review application was not made until February 2001.

The Court of Appeal considered the delay, the applicant’s explanation for it, and the substance of the proposed appeal. The central question was whether the application had a realistic prospect of success.

Lord Justice Pill refused an application for an adjournment and then considered the application for permission to appeal.

1. Promptness. Judicial review is a remedy which, if it is to be sought, must be sought promptly. The period between the Immigration Appeal Tribunal’s dismissal of the appeal on 24 November 1997 and the judicial review application in February 2001 was very long.
2. Explanation for delay. The applicant relied on having been let down by solicitors, being unable to locate the solicitor who had appeared before the Tribunal, that solicitor having left the country, and later receiving advice about presenting the case himself. He could not remember why he had not appeared before Sullivan J. Pill LJ found the explanation no more convincing than Sullivan J had.
3. Prospects of success. Having regard to the delays, the application had no realistic prospect of success. Permission to appeal was therefore refused. Pill LJ added that, on the papers, he could in any event see no merit in the substance of the case.

Order: application for permission to appeal refused.

1. Court of Appeal (Civil Division) — On 7 December 2001, permission to appeal from Sullivan J’s decision of 15 June 2001 was refused: [2001] EWCA Civ 1900.
2. High Court of Justice, Queen’s Bench Division, Administrative Court — Sullivan J gave the decision appealed from on 15 June 2001.
3. Immigration Appeal Tribunal — The Tribunal dismissed the applicant’s appeal from a Special Adjudicator’s determination on 24 November 1997.