Saxena v UK Passport Service & Ors

The Court of Appeal may refuse permission to appeal where applications challenging the refusal of judicial review permission are conspicuously misconceived. It is sufficient for the appellate court, having considered the first-instance judgments and supporting papers, to conclude that the lower court was entirely right to refuse permission for the reasons given. The court should then make the appropriate order refusing permission to appeal.

On 2 May 2002, Mr Justice Richards in the Administrative Court dismissed three applications for permission to seek judicial review. One concerned refusal of an ill-health pension or related lump sum by the NHS Pensions Agency. Another concerned alleged misconduct connected with an ex-wife’s visa application, including alleged forgery of the claimant’s signature. The third concerned refusal of a driving licence following medical advice.

The claimant sought permission to appeal. Neither he nor the respondents appeared or were represented. The central issue was whether permission to appeal should be granted against the Administrative Court’s refusal of permission to seek judicial review.

1. Disposition. Lord Justice Laws refused the applications for permission to appeal.
2. The court had read Mr Justice Richards’s judgments in each of the three cases and the papers submitted in support of the applications.
3. The applications were held to be conspicuously misconceived. The court concluded that Mr Justice Richards was entirely right to refuse permission to seek judicial review in each case, for the reasons given in his judgments.
4. The Court of Appeal therefore adopted the lower court’s reasons without undertaking a separate detailed analysis of the underlying pension, visa, alleged forgery or driving-licence complaints.
5. The formal order was: Application for permission to appeal refused.

1. Court of Appeal (Civil Division): On 10 October 2002, Laws LJ refused the applications for permission to appeal.
2. High Court, Administrative Court: On 2 May 2002, Richards J dismissed three applications for permission to seek judicial review concerning an ill-health pension, alleged visa-related fraud and forgery, and refusal of a driving licence following medical advice.