Tasaddat Hussain on lead case to be heard by Master of the Rolls
17 January 2022
Tasaddat Hussain is working on a lead case which will be heard by the Master of the Rolls later this month.
GA (Ethiopia) v. SSHD C5/2021/0004 involves a challenge to the lawfulness of the Upper Tribunal Presidential Practice Guidance Note 2021 (PGN) relating to the consideration, hearing and disposal of error of law applications from decisions of the First Tier Asylum and Immigration Chamber.
The PGN directed that such hearings would no longer be heard orally as a matter of course due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the new norm would be a paper only hearing unless good reasons could be shown to the contrary.
The legality of that position was explored by the lower courts in two cases:
- The first was R (JCWI) v. President of UT (IAC) [2020] EWHC 3103 (Admin); a successful challenge where the Court found the PGN was contrary to established principles of fairness, a right to a hearing and the underlying context being amplified exponentially due to human rights and risk of persecution.
- The second conflicting case is EP (Albania) & ors (rule 34 decisions, setting aside) [2021] UKUT 233 where the UT found that it was not the case that all paper error of law hearings would be contrary to established common law principles and in certain circumstances it was lawful to proceed without an oral hearing.
There are more than 30 cases stacked behind this lead case. Tasaddat Hussain (who appeared in EP (Albania)) is working in collaboration with Charlotte Kilroy QC (who appeared in JCWI and EP (Albania)).The case will be heard over two days before the Master of the Rolls on 26-27 January 2022.
