Mr Zakir Khan v Crown Prosecution Service PRELIMINARY HEARING — 2020

At the preliminary hearing on 6 January 2020 before Employment Judge Camp sitting alone, the claimant did not appear. The case concerned disability discrimination complaints against the Crown Prosecution Service arising from its legal trainee scheme and the absence of any scholarship or sponsorship scheme said to support LPC funding. The tribunal recorded correspondence in late 2019 and concluded that the claimant's email of 4 January 2020, stating that he did not intend to continue with the proceedings, was a withdrawal of the claim within rule 51.

The tribunal then considered rule 52 and whether it would be in the interests of justice to issue a dismissal judgment. It noted that the claimant had not objected to dismissal, had not complied with case management directions requiring a witness statement and medical evidence, and was not actively pursuing the claim. The judge also relied on the earlier related CPS proceedings, saying that this claim had no reasonable prospects of success and was, if anything, weaker than the previous one.

On the merits, the judge said the claimant had not contacted the respondent in relation to the trainee scheme and therefore had no locus as a job applicant. The judge considered that what was being complained about was really the non-provision of a scholarship scheme for an academic course, which was not a complaint the tribunal had jurisdiction to determine. The judge also said the indirect discrimination point was hopeless because the claimant accepted that the relevant PCP, the LPC requirement, was justified, and that he appeared to misunderstand that justification under section 19 concerns the PCP itself.

In an addendum, the judge stated that the claim was totally without merit. No financial remedy was awarded because the case ended by withdrawal and dismissal under rules 51 and 52.