Secretary of State for the Home Department v Iyangaran

When an application to extend time depends on uncertainty about whether a paper refusal and a short renewal period were communicated, the court may allow a limited adjournment to establish the relevant facts before deciding the application. If the evidence lies with former solicitors, the court may permit inquiries into the steps taken to notify the applicant, including consideration of whether privilege must be waived. The adjournment does not determine either the extension application or the underlying permission to appeal.

The Secretary of State’s case against Iyangaran came before the Court of Appeal on an application to extend time to seek permission to appeal from an order of the Immigration Appeal Tribunal. Permission had been refused on paper by Lord Justice Tuckey, but the applicant disputed having been informed of that decision or of the seven-day opportunity to renew the application orally. A previous application for an extension had been rejected by Lord Justice Brooke. The central issue was whether the uncertainty about communications by the applicant’s former solicitors warranted further investigation before the extension application was determined.

Application adjourned; no decision on costs.

1. Lord Justice Kennedy identified a material lack of information about what occurred after the paper refusal was communicated to the applicant’s solicitors. The relevant question included whether the former solicitors had informed the applicant of the refusal and the limited period for seeking an oral renewal.
2. Because resolution of that issue might require the applicant to waive privilege, the present solicitors were to obtain an account from the former solicitors of the steps they had taken and the advice they had given.
3. A limited adjournment was granted to enable those inquiries to be made. Any further material was required by 19 July 2002, and the matter could be relisted from 22 July.
4. The court made no determination of the application to extend time, the underlying application for permission to appeal, or costs.

1. Court of Appeal (Civil Division): Lord Justice Brooke rejected an earlier application for an extension of time on 28 June 2002. Lord Justice Kennedy adjourned the present application on 10 July 2002 for further factual inquiries.
2. Immigration Appeal Tribunal: made the order from which permission to appeal was sought; citation not stated in the judgment.