ZG -v- Secretary of State for the Home Department (anonymity order)

Administrative CourtHigh CourtKing's Bench DivisionAnonymity Order

Claim number: AC-2024-LON-001056

In the High Court of Justice
King’s Bench Division
Administrative Court

27 March 2024

Before:

The Honourable Mrs Justice Lang DBE

Between:

The King on the application of
ZG

-v-

Secretary of State for the Home Department
(HO Ref: MST/8020684)

Order

On the Claimant’s application for anonymity, urgent consideration, interim relief, and directions;

Following consideration of the documents lodged by the Claimant; Order by the Honourable Mrs Justice Lang DBE

  1. Pursuant to CPR r.39.2, in any report of these proceedings, there shall be no publication of the name and address of the Claimant, nor any other particulars likely to lead to his identification. In the proceedings, the Claimant shall be anonymised and referred to as “ZG”.
  2. No later than 14 days from the date of this order, the Claimant’s solicitors shall file with the Court copies of case documents which have been anonymised and/or redacted to protect the identity of the Claimant, in accordance with paragraph 1 above.
  3. Non-parties may not obtain any documents from the court file which have not been anonymised and/or redacted to protect the identity of the Claimant, in accordance with paragraph 1 above.
  4. No later than 14 days from the date of service of the claim form and supporting bundle, the Defendant do file and serve his Acknowledgment of Service and Summary Grounds of Resistance, together with a response to the application for interim relief, and any relevant documents disclosed pursuant to the duty of candour.
  5. The application for permission and interim relief shall be considered by a Judge on the papers, no later than 10 days from the date of filing of the Defendant’s documents pursuant to paragraph 4 above.
  6. Liberty to apply to vary or discharge this order on 2 days notice to the other party.
  7. Costs reserved.

Reasons

  1. I have granted an anonymity order. The Claimant is an asylum seeker who claims to be at risk. In the circumstances, a departure from the general principle of open justice is justified.
  2. I recognise the urgency of the matter and so I have abridged time to ensure urgent consideration. However, the proposal that the Defendant should file a response by 2 April 2024 is unrealistic and unhelpful. It places unreasonable time pressure on the Defendant, particularly because of the public holidays over the Easter weekend. In practice, orders made with such short notice result in a superficial and inadequate response, due to lack of time. The Summary Grounds of Resistance is a far more useful document as it has to address the grounds of challenge.