R (Niazi) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; R (Bhatt Murphy (A Firm) and Others v Independent Assessor
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 26 June 2007 |
| Neutral Citation | [2007] EWHC 1495 (Admin) |
| Date | 26 June 2007 |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court) |
Queen's Bench Divisional Court
Before Lord Justice May and Mr Justice Gray
The withdrawal, without notice or consultation, of the ex gratia scheme for compensation for miscarriages of justice was not unlawful.
The Queen's Bench Divisional Court so held, inter alia, when refusing the applications of three individual claimants and seven firms of solicitors for judicial review of decisions of April 19, 2006 of (i) the Secretary of State for the Home Department to withdraw, without notice or consultation, the ex gratia scheme for compensation for miscarriages of justice, and (ii) the Independent Assessor to reduce to the community legal service legal help rate the level of legal costs to be paid in relation to applications for compensation under the equivalent statutory scheme contained in section 133 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988.
Mr Stephen Cragg for Noorullah Niazi and Hamidreza Taghibeglou; Ms Henrietta Hill for Huseyin Cakir; Mr Rabinder Singh, QC, Ms Heather Williams, QC and Ms Philippa Kaufman for the solicitor applicants; Mr Jonathan Swift for the Home Secretary and the Independent Assessor.
LORD JUSTICE MAY said that the scheme was an entirely discretionary one which it was open to the secretary of state to withdraw. Neither the existence of the scheme nor the length of time it had operated in some form predicated its continued indefinite existence.
There was nothing amounting to a representation or a promise either that the scheme would continue or that the secretary of state would consult or give notice before withdrawing it. The decision not to consult or give notice was not so unfair as to amount to an abuse of power.
Further, absent a legitimate expectation, which could not be found, and absent...
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