RN (Pakistan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department

An application for permission to appeal, including an application to extend time, may be refused where the applicant has sufficient notice of the hearing but fails to attend. Previous adjournments and clear directions concerning any further adjournment request are relevant to whether the hearing should proceed.

Mr Raja Jahanzaib Nasir applied for permission to appeal from a decision of Upper Tribunal Judge Warr dated 19 August 2014, together with an extension of time. The hearing had previously been adjourned after the applicant reported illness. The court directed that any further adjournment request required a medical certificate and satisfactory proof of transmission. The applicant received notice of the adjourned hearing but did not attend and was not represented. The central issue was whether the court should determine the applications in his absence.

1. The Court of Appeal proceeded to determine the applications in the applicant’s absence. The matter had already been listed for hearing on earlier occasions, and a previous adjournment had been granted because the applicant reported flu and a high fever.
2. The court had directed that any further request for an adjournment required a medical certificate signed by a medical practitioner to be lodged 48 hours before the hearing. It also required satisfactory proof of transmission of any further communication to the court.
3. The Civil Appeals Office had sent the applicant a letter to his address in Burnley giving notice of the adjourned hearing and explaining that he had to check the Cause List for the courtroom number and time. The judge concluded that he had sufficient notice of the hearing.
4. In those circumstances, the applicant’s failure to attend justified disposal of the application without him. The application for permission to appeal and the associated application for an extension of time were dismissed. The formal order was: Application refused.

1. Court of Appeal (Civil Division): In [2015] EWCA Civ 1411, the application for permission to appeal and extension of time was refused because the applicant had sufficient notice but failed to attend.
2. Upper Tribunal (Immigration & Asylum Chamber): Upper Tribunal Judge Warr gave the decision dated 19 August 2014 from which permission to appeal was sought. No citation is stated in the judgment.