Am (Pakistan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Lord Justice Pill |
| Judgment Date | 24 May 2012 |
| Neutral Citation | [2012] EWCA Civ 813 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
| Date | 24 May 2012 |
| Docket Number | Case No: C5/2011/3179 |
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM THE UPPER TRIBUNAL
(IMMIGRATION AND ASYLUM CHAMBER)
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
Lord Justice Pill
Case No: C5/2011/3179
[APPEAL No: AA/03474/2011]
Mr L Rahman (instructed by Messrs Haris Ali & Co) appeared on behalf of the Appellant.
The Respondent did not appear and was not represented.
This is a renewed application by AM (Pakistan) for permission to appeal against a decision of the Upper Tribunal promulgated on 1 November 2011. The Upper Tribunal allowed an appeal from a determination of the First-tier Tribunal heard on 18 April 2011 whereby the Tribunal allowed the applicant's claim to remain in the UK on asylum grounds and found that the applicant qualified for refugee status. The Upper Tribunal held that there was a material error of law in the decision of the First-tier Tribunal. The determination of the First-tier Tribunal was set aside. The judge in the Upper Tribunal conducted his own inquiry into the facts and substituted his own decision dismissing the appeal against deportation.
The basic facts are set out in the decision of the First-tier Tribunal. The applicant, now 26 years old, came to the United Kingdom with entry clearance as a tier-4 student valid until September 2011. She claimed asylum on 9 February 2011 stating that her parents had threatened to kill her and her four-month-old child because the baby's father was Shia whereas she and her family were Sunni. It was on appeal from a refusal to grant asylum that the First-tier Tribunal made its decision.
I prepared the case on the basis of an undated skeleton argument which raised a point on the procedure before the Upper Tribunal and a point under section 55 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2009. As I came into court I was handed a skeleton argument settled by counsel, Mr Rahman, who now appears for the applicant. That does not pursue the earlier grounds and substitutes a different approach which is succinctly but clearly set out. His oral submissions took me through that amended case statement. The procedural ground formerly taken was that the Upper Tribunal, having found an error of law, should not on that day have proceeded to a full hearing. There was no merit in that. The applicant was represented by counsel who agreed to proceed. Equally, the section 55 point has no merit in the present circumstances, it plainly being in the child's best interests to remain with its mother whether in the United Kingdom or in Pakistan.
Mr Rahman submits that there was no error of law in the findings of the First-tier Tribunal. Findings of fact were made. The possibility of relocation in Pakistan was considered. It was found that there was a real risk on return and that relocation was not acceptable in the circumstances, the reasons being stated at paragraphs 26, 27 and 29 of the decision. Mr Rahman submits that, even if the Upper Tribunal was entitled to find an error of law, its reconsideration of the evidence was itself erroneous. He submits that the Upper Tribunal went beyond the basis upon which permission to appeal to it had been granted.
The grounds of appeal alleged and the reasons for granting permission were, he submits, confined to the question of relocation. He submits that the third paragraph of the grounds of appeal at page 29 is really an elaboration of the second and does not raise any further question on reasoning. Mr Rahman will, in my judgment, have...
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