Venkat Raman
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) which supervises Immigration New Zealand (INZ) has given a written undertaking to the Auckland High Court that it will not execute a deportation order on a man of Indian origin, pending a judicial review.
The man, known only as Mr Singh, had been issued with a Deportation Liability Notice.
Mr Singh said that he has been a New Zealand resident for many years and that he was lately on a work visa.
Allegation of breach
INZ had issued a deportation liability Notice last year stating that he had breached visa conditions and was given 14 days to either show cause as to why he should not be deported or file an appeal to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal within 28 days.
Around this time, he had also been charged under the Crimes Act.
After the expiry of the Deportation Liability Notice period and expiry of the time to file the appeal to the Tribunal, he was issued with deportation order.
Mr Singh engaged Barrister & Solicitor Gurbrinder Aulakh to act for him.
Judicial Review
Mr Aulakh filed Judicial Review proceedings at the Auckland High Court against the deportation order on behalf of his client.
At the first Case Conference, the Judge noted that the respondent, INZ (precisely, MBIE Chief Executive) had only been served with the notice of proceedings a day before and therefore, it was effectively a ‘Without Notice’ basis.
The Judge also noted that although there was a quasi-application for interim relief along with the affidavit of the applicant, there was no separate written application to stay the order pending the Judicial Review.
The Judge directed the applicant to file the same for consideration by the High Court.
Appeal for Interim Relief
The applicant then filed the interlocutory application for interim relief.
Mr Aulakh challenged the deportation order on several counts as violating his client’s rights. The matter was then listed to come up before the Duty Judge as the first call for interim relief.
Following the service of the interlocutory application, the respondent, through Crown Counsel, filed a written assurance that no steps to deport the applicant will be taken, pending the outcome of the review proceeding.
A joint memo of the Counsel was then filed requesting the Court to adjourn the matter to a later date, for the parties to consider their respective position, and for substantive hearing.
Mr Aulakh declined to divulge more details of the case saying, “the matter is subjudice, and therefore it will not be appropriate for me to comment.”
The case will be in the High Court for substantive hearing in the following weeks.
Photo : Gurbrinder Aulakh
