The IAT had remitted an appeal to be heard de novo by another adjudicator. The second adjudicator dismissed the appeal, but recorded that the determination of the first adjudicator had been on file and that he had ‘had the advantage of having perused it’. The applicant sought permission to move for judicial review on the ground that it had been improper for the second adjudicator to have read the determination of his colleague.
Held: The application was dismissed: ‘It is no doubt inevitable that the previous determination will be on the file. It may be inevitable that the adjudicator looks at it. It seems to me that there is no reason in principle why he should not, provided, of course, that he does not allow it in any way to influence the decision that he has to make on a fresh consideration of the whole case. It may be that it would be desirable that steps were taken not to include such a decision in the papers, because that would avoid any question of a suggestion that the adjudicator had been wrongly influenced in any way by it; but that does not seem to me to be in the least essential and adjudicators can surely be trusted to carry out their functions in a proper fashion.’
Judges:
Collins J
Citations:
[1997] Imm AR 184
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Dritan Gashi v Secretary of State for the Home Department IAT 2001
Referring to the decsision in Aissaoui, the tribunal set out guidelines: ‘(1) As a general rule it is best practice for an adjudicator hearing an appeal de novo not to read the Determination of a previous adjudicator unless expressly invited to do . .
Cited – Swash v Secretary of State for the Home Department CA 26-Jul-2006
The appellant challenged refusal of the grant of leave to remain in the UK. The court was asked as to the approach to be adopted by the AIT on reconsideration of an appeal when it has concluded that there was an error of law in the original . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Immigration, Natural Justice
Updated: 01 May 2022; Ref: scu.244737
