IA001312018

The Appellant, Selva Kumar Boominathan, is a citizen of India born on 24 December 1988. He is single and has no dependants. On 19 October 2009 he entered with leave as a Tier 4 (General) student which was later extended to expire on 5 September 2013. On 3 September 2013 he applied for further leave in the same capacity.

On 4 July 2018, almost five years after the application had been made, the SSHD refused it on the ground that the Certificate of Approval for Study (CAS) upon which the Appellant relied had been assigned to a different person and consequently he did not meet the relevant requirements of Appendix A of the Immigration Rules. The Respondent did not go on to consider whether the Appellant met any of the other requirements for further leave as a student.

The Appellant lodged an appeal and requested an oral hearing. There was an issue about payment of fees which was ultimately resolved.

By a decision promulgated on 26 October 2018 Judge of the First-tier Tribunal Alis on the basis of the papers in the Tribunal file found that although a copy of the grounds of appeal had been requested by the Tribunal on 20 August 2018, the Appellant had failed to file them by 25 October 2018. Accordingly, he found the Appellant to be in breach of the relevant Procedure Rules and proceeded to determine the appeal on the basis of the papers in the Tribunal file. He noted the Appellant had failed to provide any hint of the reason for the appeal and so dismissed it.

The Appellant sought permission to appeal. The grounds assert the CAS was issued to the Appellant by Quinton College Ltd and he had no knowledge of it being assigned to anyone else. The SSHD had failed to prove the assertion that the CAS was not issued to him. The SSHD's delay in dealing with the application resulted in significant detriment to the Appellant. Further, the Appellant stated he had not received the request of 20 August 2018 from the Tribunal to file grounds of appeal and so the dismissal of his appeal was procedurally unfair.