Regina v Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Malhi: CA 1990

Parliament would not have intended to give an adjudicator powers to review the decisions of the respondent which were co-extensive with those of a court in a judicial review since this would simply cause duplication. On the true construction of section 5(1) an adjucicator hearing an appeal under section 15 of the Act of 1971 was not entitled to investigate the propriety of the procedures leading up to the Secretary of State’s decision to make a deportation order but could only enquire whether the facts of the applicant’s circumstances were such that the Secretary of State had power to make a deportation order for the reasons stated in the notice of intention to deport.
Lord Mustill explained the appeal process from the respondent’s immigration officer to an Adjudicator: ‘On the natural meaning of the words I think it quite plain . . that the adjudicator’s appellate jurisdiction is now confined to a situation where, marrying the facts of the case, the reasons given by the Secretary of State, and the deportation order which he has made, the making of that order for those reasons on those facts was something which fell outside the sphere of activity conferred on the Secretary of State by the source of his powers, namely, Parliament. Thus one must simply ask whether in such a situation as the present the Secretary of State is enabled by Parliament to make a deportation order. If the answer is ‘yes’ – as it must be – any question of whether in the circumstances the order ought to have been made does not enter into consideration.’

Judges:

Dillon, Mustill and Stuart-Smith LJJ

Citations:

[1991] 1 QB 194, [1990] 2 WLR 932

Statutes:

Immigration Act 1988 5(1), Immigration Act 1971 15

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

AdoptedRegina v Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Oladehinde HL 18-Oct-1990
A decision at Senior Executive Officer level was accepted as appropriate in a deportation case. There was an express form of delegation, and acts of the immigration officers required to be regarded as the acts of the Home Secretary.
Lord . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Immigration

Updated: 05 August 2022; Ref: scu.222909