Hassan v Secretary Of State For Home Department

Where an application for permission to appeal is withdrawn and discontinued, the court may dismiss the application. The dismissal disposes of the application without determining the merits of the proposed appeal.

The applicant sought permission to appeal from a decision of the Queen’s Bench Division, identified as a decision of Mr Justice Goldring. Neither the applicant nor the respondent attended the Court of Appeal, and the applicant was unrepresented. The court made enquiries and received a faxed letter from the applicant’s solicitors stating that the application was withdrawn and discontinued. The central issue was whether the permission application should proceed when it was no longer being pursued.

1. The application for permission to appeal was listed before the Court of Appeal, but neither party attended.
2. The court received a copy of a letter from the applicant’s solicitors, dated 16 August, stating that the application was withdrawn and the matter discontinued. The letter had not reached the Civil Appeals Office.
3. As the application was not intended to be pursued further, the Court of Appeal dismissed it. The judgment made no determination of the merits of the proposed appeal.

1. Court of Appeal (Civil Division): The application for permission to appeal was dismissed because it had been withdrawn and discontinued.
2. Queen’s Bench Division: The application arose from a decision of Mr Justice Goldring. No citation for that decision was stated.