UTIAJ The common law duty of fairness is essentially about procedural fairness. There is no absolute duty at common law to make decisions which are substantively ‘fair’. The Court will not interfere with decisions which are objected to as being substantively unfair, except the decision in question falls foul of the Wednesbury test i.e. that no reasonable decision-maker or public body could have arrived at such a decision.
It is a matter for the Secretary of State whether she exercises her residual discretion. The exercise of such residual discretion, which does not appear in the Immigration Rules, is absolutely a matter for the Secretary of State and nobody else, including the Tribunal – Abdi [1996] Imm AR 148.
Haddon-Cave J, Coker UTJ
[2014] UKUT 366 (IAC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Immigration
Updated: 22 December 2021; Ref: scu.537482