(604)  COURT OF SESSION HAS JURISDICTION OVER UK TRIBUNAL

 

Tehrani v Secretary of State for the Home Department was decided by the House of Lords on 18 October 2006 [2006] UKHL 47.  See –

 

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200506/ldjudgmt/jd061018/tehran-1.htm.

 

At earlier stages this case indicated that a decision of the UK Immigration Appeals Tribunal in London could not be judicially reviewed in Scotland even if the person subject to the decision was based in Scotland.  The Lord Ordinary’s decision (April 2003 by Lord Philip, 2003 SLT 808, http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/opinions/P1021_02.html ) was approved unanimously by an Extra Division in April 2004 (Lords Kirkwood, Hamilton and MacFadyen, 2004 SLT 461, http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/opinions/P1021.html).  This had the unfortunate consequence for Tehrani that as the Court of Session declined to hear the petition he fell outwith the time limit for judicial review in the High Court in England.  The strange unwillingness of the Court of Session to take jurisdiction has been unanimously overturned by the House of Lords.   The decision is a clear assertion of the extent of the supervisory jurisdiction of the Court of Session at common law, and Lord Rodger indicates that in such cases by virtue of the Crown Suits Act the appropriate respondent to the petition is the Advocate General.