LHR takes on new judicial review rules

Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) will today challenge the new rules pertaining to judicial reviews in terms of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act, says a report in The Mercury. The application in the North Gauteng High Court has been brought against the Rules Board for Courts of Law, who made the new rules, as well as against the Justice Minister, who approved the rules. The Rules Board elected to abide by the decision of the court in this regard and the Minister has agreed to suspend implementation of the new rules until the court has ruled on the matter. The report notes under the old rules for judicial review, an applicant who wishes to challenge an administrative decision by government by means of a review application, had the right to the full copy of the record and all the documents used by the government as to how it arrived at a decision due to be challenged. Under the new rules, the administrator who took the decision – including government officials – will have to decide themselves which portion of these documents should be made available to the applicant, based on the latter’s stated grounds for review. According to the report, the LHR claims it was absolutely necessary for a person to have the full record available in order to determine all the grounds upon which an applicant could challenge administrative action.