A1/2000/3118/A

Neutral Citation Number: [2001] EWCA Civ 1735
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM THE EMPLOYMENT APPEAL TRIBUNAL
								Royal Courts of Justice
								Strand
								London WC2

							Thursday 15th November, 2001
B e f o r e:

LORD JUSTICE KEENE

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SHAMIN BARI
Appellant/Applicant

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LONDON BOROUGH OF WALTHAM FOREST
Respondent

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(Computer Aided Transcript of the Palantype Notes of
Smith Bernal Reporting Limited, 190 Fleet Street,
London EC4A 2AG
Tel: 020 7421 4040
Official Shorthand Writers to the Court)
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THE APPLICANT did not appear and was not represented

THE RESPONDENT did not appear and was not represented

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J U D G M E N T
1.	LORD JUSTICE KEENE: This is an application by Mrs Bari to reinstate an appeal against a decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal. There were at one time three such applications before me. I dealt with two of them on 29th October 2001, in both cases dismissing the application. However, Mr Bari, whom I allowed to speak on his wife's behalf, became ill on that occasion before he could deal with this present matter and I therefore adjourned it for a date to be fixed. The present application bears the reference number 6397. 
2.	Today has been fixed for the hearing then of this application. However, there arrived this morning a faxed letter from Mrs Bari seeking an adjournment. She says in that letter that her husband, who is representing her in this appeal, has recently returned from hospital awaiting bypass surgery and he is not feeling well this morning. She requests an adjournment of today's hearing, though she also encloses an outline submission presenting her basic arguments. She concludes the letter by emphasising her wish for an adjournment in the interests of justice. 
3.	I have read the documents which have been sent to the Civil Appeals Office. Having seen Mr Bari and his condition on 29th October 2001, I am prepared to accept that he is not well enough to attend this morning and that Mrs Bari had been anticipating that he would be speaking on her behalf and that the court would allow him to do so, as happened on the previous occasion. 
4.	Since I am prepared to accept that he is not well enough to attend, I am willing to adjourn this matter once more for a date to be fixed. However, this is a matter of some antiquity. It came before Mummery LJ some 11 months ago now, on 21st December 2000, on which occasion Mrs Bari did not attend because, as she says in an affidavit, she never received notice of the hearing. Clearly this matter cannot be allowed to drag on indefinitely. Although I am prepared to adjourn today's hearing for a date to be fixed, I must emphasise that this ought to be the very last time that this matter is adjourned for reasons of ill health or for any other reason. If a date is fixed which appears to be acceptable to Mrs Bari and there is then no attendance on that occasion, in my view the court should be prepared then to proceed in the absence of Mrs Bari or any representative and this matter will be dealt with on the documents. 
5.	I instruct the Civil Appeals Office to write to Mrs Bari to make it clear that this is almost certain to be the last adjournment which will be granted because of the very long time which this matter has been outstanding; and to make it clear to her, also, that if there is no attendance on the next occasion when this matter is listed, the court will deal with it simply on the basis of the documents which are lodged. Those documents are extensive, and for my part I am satisfied that they would enable the court to deal justly with the merits of her argument. 
6.	Nonetheless, as I have indicated, I am prepared to adjourn this matter from today for a date to be fixed. I make it clear that I do not reserve this matter to myself. I am not going to be sitting in Civil Appeals once November has ended, and it would be regrettable if this case were to have to go out until next term.