OA149572013

This is an appeal against the determination of First-tier Tribunal Judge Lugunju, promulgated on 18 th August 2014, following a hearing at Birmingham Sheldon Court on 12 th May 2014. In the determination, the judge allowed the appeal of Miss Sobia Bi. The Respondent Entry Clearance Officer, subsequently applied for, and was granted permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal, and thus the matter comes before me.

The Appellant is a citizen of Pakistan who was born on 30 th April 1995. She appealed against the decision of the Respondent Entry Clearance Officer dated 23 rd July 2013, refusing her application under paragraph 297 of HC 395, to join her father, the Sponsor, in the UK.

The Appellant�s claim was that her father and mother had divorced. She was living in the home of her father. She was looked after on a day-to-day basis by her grandmother. This was at the control and direction of her father in the UK. Her mother did not have a role to play in her maintenance.

The grounds of application state that the judge, failed to make material findings as to who has responsibility for the day-to-day of the Appellant, and to resolve an anomaly in the evidence relating to this issue.

But the judge had then gone on to say that, �However, whether or not the mother maintains contact with the Appellant, I find she is no longer responsible for her. Her affidavit dated in April 2013 could certainly be considered as confirmation of this �� (paragraph 17). Mr Vokes drew my attention to the older Tribunal determination of Omar Sumani (HX/70205/1998) which was a �starred� decision by Mr Justice Collins, in which he had stated that,