Das, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department

The court will ordinarily avoid determining academic issues or points that do not arise on the facts, except in the most exceptional circumstances. Where the defendant’s concession provides all the relief available to the claimant, the claimant has no remaining interest in an issue that has become academic. The challenged decision may nevertheless be quashed on a separate ground that remains live.

This was a judicial review claim concerning a decision of the Secretary of State for the Home Department. The Secretary of State conceded that the claimant would receive the approval and certificate sought. The court therefore declined to determine ground one, because it had become academic and the claimant had no continuing interest in it. The remaining issue was the order to be made on ground two.

1. The court declined to determine ground one. It is not the practice of the court to decide academic issues or issues that do not arise on the facts, save in the most exceptional circumstances. The claimant had no continuing interest in ground one because the Secretary of State’s concessions provided all the relief that could have been obtained, including the issue of a certificate. [1]–[2]

2. The decision of the Secretary of State was quashed on ground two alone. [3]

3. The Secretary of State was ordered to pay the claimant’s costs of the claim, including the costs of the hearing, on the standard basis, to be assessed if not agreed. [19]

First-instance judicial review decision. No prior appellate history is stated in the judgment.