The High Court ordered the Minister for Justice and Equality to pay the costs of Shiv Anand Raghoo and Marie Joelle Mileine Raghoo after they received permission to remain in the State while pursuing a judicial review of deportation orders.
Mr Justice Richard Humphreys delivered the judgment on 10 December 2019. The applicants had each been granted two-year permission on 4 December under the “Special Scheme for students from 01/01/05 to 31/12/10”, an administrative procedure introduced following the Supreme Court’s decision in Luximon and Balchand v Minister for Justice and Equality.
The judicial review had sought orders quashing deportation orders made against each applicant on 23 September 2016. Because they had since received permission to remain, that substantive relief no longer arose. The outstanding issue before the court was costs.
Counsel for the applicants sought costs. The respondent argued that there should be no order as to costs.
The judge considered Supreme Court authorities on costs in proceedings that have become moot. He said the proceedings became moot because the Minister granted the permissions, which was essentially the objective the applicants had pursued through the litigation. In the circumstances, he found a sufficient connection between the litigation and the Minister’s act to apply the default approach of ordering costs against the party whose act rendered proceedings moot.
The court ordered the respondent to pay the applicants’ costs, including reserved costs. The judgment did not decide the original challenge to the deportation orders, which no longer required determination after the permissions were granted.