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Removal authority does not include native banishment
Application for Habeas Corpus, Kitte
Rongorongo [1976] NRSC 1; [1969-1982]
NLR (A) 36 (1 January 1976)
[1969-1962] NLR (A) 36
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NAURU
Miscellaneous Cause No. 3 of 1975
APPLICATION FOR HABEAS CORPUS
Applicant: KITTE RONGORONGO
1st January, 1976.
Habeas corpus - deportation - Expulsion of Undesirables
Ordinance 1961-1967 - deportation order not lawful unless
on ground provided for by section 2 of the Ordinance.
Application for habeas corpus, the applicant having been detained
to await deportation on a deportation order made by
the Cabinet. The applicant, who was born in Nauru but was alleged
not be Nauruan, was requested by the immigration officer on 4th
November, 1975, to depart from Nauru; he refused to do so. On
14th November, 1975, he was informed by the Immigration Officer
that he was required to leave Nauru; again he refused. On 15th
December, 1975, he was informed by the Acting Principal
Immigration Officer that he was required to leave Nauru on 17th
December, 1975; again he refused to do so. On 23rd December,
1975, the Cabinet made an order, under section 2 of the Expulsion
of Undesirables Ordinance 1961-1967, for his deportation
from Nauru; it stated as the grounds for the order that the
applicant's conduct had been "such that he should not be allowed to
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remain in Nauru". He was arrested with a view to enforcement of the
order. Counsel for the Government conceded that the only conduct
relied on by the Cabinet as a ground for the order was the
applicant's refusal to depart from Nauru when requested to do soand when informed that he was required to do so.
Held: The only power to make deportation orders is derived
from section 2 of the Expulsion of Undesirables Ordinance 1961-
1967. If the applicant's conduct had been such that the Cabinet
could properly have found it to be conduct "such that the applicant
should not be allowed to remain in Nauru", the Court could not have
interfered with the order for his deportation . But the conduct
relied on was merely an exercise of the applicant's civil rights under
the laws of Nauru and, as such, could not constitute conduct such
that he should not be allowed to remain in Nauru. Further, if as the
applicant alleged, he was a Nauruan, no order for his
deportation could lawfully be made whatever his conduct might
be.
K.R. Adeang for the applicant
J.H.Berriman for the respondent
Thomson CJ.:
The applicant alleges that the order made for his deportation
from Nauru was unlawful. The order was made by the Cabinet on
23rd December, 1975, under section 2 of the Expulsion of
Undesirables Ordinance 1961-1967, on the ground that the
applicant is not a Nauruan and it was satisfied that his conduct hadbeen "such that he should not be allowed to remain in Nauru".
The conduct of which the Cabinet was satisfied and the facts
relevant thereto are not in dispute. The applicant was born in Nauru
in 1954 and has resided in Nauru ever since. On 4th November,
1975, the applicant was requested by the Immigration Officer to
depart from Nauru but refused to do so. On 14th November, 1975,
he was informed by the Immigration officer that he was required to
leave Nauru. Again he refused to do so. On 15th December, 1975,
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he was informed, this time by the Acting Principal Immigration
Officer, that he was required to leave Nauru on 17th December,
1975. He refused and did not leave. His refusal to leave in
compliance with that request and those requirements was theconduct of which the Cabinet was satisfied for the purposes of
section 2 of the Ordinance. In other words, the Cabinet decided that
it was conduct "such that the applicant should not be allowed to
remain in Nauru".
Mr. Berriman has conceded, rightly in my view, that there is no
statutory authority, other than that provided by the Expulsion of
Undesirables Ordinance, for removing from Nauru against his will
any person born in Nauru or for requiring a person born in Nauru to
leave Nauru. (In the circumstances of post-Independence Nauru
there is a need for such statutory authority but up to date no
legislation to provide it has been enacted.) Mr. Berriman has stated
that it has been a practice over the years for the Administrator and,
latterly, the Minister responsible for such matters to request
informally, or to require, non-Nauruans to leave Nauru. In many
instances, no doubt, this has proved a satisfactory way of
overcoming the lack of statutory provision and the persons
concerned have departed voluntarily. But, if anyone does not
comply with such a request or requirement and refuses to give up
voluntarily his civil rights under the laws of Nauru and his way of life
here, he is not acting unlawfully or doing more than exercising his
rights under the laws of Nauru, as they are at present. That being
so, mere refusal to comply with such a request or requirement, even
repeated refusal, cannot by itself constitute conduct rendering the
person concerned unfit to be allowed to remain in Nauru.
Section 2 of the Ordinance reads:
"Where the Cabinet is satisfied that any person other than a
Nauruan -
(a).....
(b) is a person whose conduct has been such that he should not be
allowed to remain in Nauru; or
(c).....,
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the Cabinet may make an order for the deportation of that
person."
The Ordinance contains no provision for an appeal against any such
order or for its review by the Courts. However, Article 5(4) of the
Constitution requires this Court to inquire into any-complaint made
to it by a person alleging that he has unlawfully been deprived of his
liberty. Thus, if this Court receives a complaint that an order made
by the Cabinet under section 2 of the Ordinance is unlawful, it has
not only a power but also a duty to look into the order to see
whether it is a lawful order and so by virtue of Article 5(1)(h)
justifies the deprivation of liberty.
In order to be lawful the order must be totally intra vires the
provisions of section 2 of the Expulsion of Undesirables ordinance.
Thus, as the Cabinet has no power under the section to make a
deportation order in respect of a Nauruan, the order is not intra
vires if the applicant is a Nauruan. It is not possible at this stage of
these proceedings to decide whether he is a Nauruan or not.
However, it was also a pre-condition of the exercise by the Cabinetof its discretion to make the deportation order that it should
have been satisfied that the applicant was a person whose conduct
had been such that he should not be allowed to remain in Nauru. I
have already stated what that conduct was of which the Cabinet
was satisfied. Mr. Berriman has submitted that it was for the Cabinet
to decide whether that conduct was of such a nature that the
applicant should not be allowed to remain in Nauru. If the conduct
had been such that the Cabinet could properly have so held, Ishould have accepted that submission. But in the circumstances of
this case, I am unable to do so.
Mr. Berriman has referred to the Cabinet's discretion in this matter.
The discretion vested in the Cabinet is to decide whether or not to
make a deportation order, if two pre-conditions exist. The
first pre-condition is that the person concerned is not a Nauruan.
The second is any one of those prescribed by paragraphs (a), (b)
and (c) of section 2. Before the Cabinet can be satisfied that a
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person's conduct is such that he should not be allowed to remain in
Nauru, the conduct must be of such a nature that it is possible for
the Cabinet to be so satisfied. If it is, it is then for the Cabinet to
consider whether it is so satisfied or not. But the Cabinet cannot besatisfied of an impossibility and, if it expresses itself as being so
satisfied, it is clear that it has been under some misapprehension as
to the true state of the law.
If the request and requirements addressed to the applicant on the
4th and 14th November and the 15 December respectively had
been requests and requirements with which the applicant had a
legal obligation to comply, his refusal to comply with them
(assuming that he is not a Nauruan) would undoubtedly have
constituted conduct such that he should not be allowed to remain in
Nauru. Possibly the Cabinet made the order in erroneous belief that
that was the state of the law. But as, in fact, the applicant was not
under any obligation to comply with the request or the
requirements, and his refusals to do so were merely an exercise of
his rights under the law as it is at present, those refusals were not
capable of amounting to conduct such that he should not be
permitted to remain in Nauru and the Cabinet, if it had been aware
of the true state of the law, could not have been satisfied that they
did constitute such conduct. That being so, one of the two pre-
conditions necessary before the Cabinet could lawfully exercise its
discretion to make the deportation order was not fulfilled. In
consequence the order made was ultra vires and is a nullity.
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