The High Court declared that the Valuation Tribunal acted ultra vires when it adjourned two appeals by Celtic Roads Group (Portlaoise) Limited and Celtic Roads Group (Waterford) Limited beyond the statutory six-month period to await the outcome of another case.
Mr Justice Michael Peart delivered the judgment on 29 April 2013. The companies had challenged the Tribunal chairman’s decision of 11 June 2012 to stay or adjourn their appeals against Certificates of Valuation. The chairman considered that the appeals raised the same point of law as a Case Stated in the Ashley Lodge case and that it was sensible to wait for that case to be decided.
The companies argued that section 37(2) of the Valuation Act 2001 required the Tribunal to decide an appeal within six months of receiving it, and did not give it power to adjourn beyond that period. The Commissioner of Valuation, a notice party, argued that the Tribunal could regulate its procedure and that the six-month provision was directory rather than mandatory.
The court heard that the Ashley Lodge case had been decided by the time the judicial review came on for hearing, and a date had been set to resume the companies’ appeals. The notice party argued that the challenge was therefore moot. The judge found that although the issue was no longer live between these parties, it was likely to recur and concerned statutory interpretation with wider implications. He decided it was in the public interest to determine it.
The judge agreed that a decision made outside the six-month period was not invalid merely because it was late. But he held that this did not give the Tribunal authority to choose to adjourn beyond the period where no exceptional circumstance made that necessary. He said the Act and the appeals rules were intended to secure expedition, and that procedural efficiency alone could not supply a power the legislation did not confer.
Because a date to resume the appeals had been set, the court refused the requested orders of certiorari and mandamus. It did not quash the adjournment or order the Tribunal to hear the appeals. Instead, it granted a declaration that the Tribunal had acted ultra vires by adjourning the appeals beyond the section 37(2) period to await the Ashley Lodge outcome. The judge said he would hear the parties if either considered the declaration should be worded differently.