Poonam Pattni, successful twice this month in the High Court

Published on 01/04/2022

In the first case, Poonam Pattni secured permission to defend the claim out of time. The judicial review was of the defendant council’s choice-based lettings scheme within its Housing Policy. The case was of interest because it was argued that the s19 of the Equality Act 2010 (indirect discrimination) was engaged, the court was invited to consider the House of Lords decision in Ahmad v Mayor and Burgess of London Borough of Newham [2009] and the more recent case of Nur & ors v Birmingham City Council [2021].

In the second case, Poonam successfully represented a defendant local authority faced with a challenge to a homelessness decision. In refusing permission to appeal, Mr Justice Mostyn commented that the fundamental basis of the claim was “fallacious”: section 189A(9) of the Housing Act 1996 does not require a defendant to rewrite a personal housing plan.