Facts
The appellant [A.] had attempted to file an electronic appeal with the lower court on 9 April 2018, the last day before the deadline, but was unsuccessful. On 10 April 2018, he filed the appeal by fax and by post. The lower court did not consider the appeal as the deadline had expired. The appellant filed a public law appeal with the request that the appeal of 9 April 2019 be considered, alternatively that the deadline for filing the appeal of 9 April 2018 be restored or qualified as restored.
The parties involved were the appellant [A.] , the Migration Office of the Canton of Zurich, and the Security Directorate of the Canton of Zurich. The proceedings were conducted before the Administrative Court of the Canton of Zurich, 4th Division, Single Judge, and the Federal Court.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined the admissibility of the appeal and came to the conclusion that the public law appeal was admissible. The appellant had undoubtedly attempted to file an electronic appeal with the lower court on 9 April 2018, but was unsuccessful. The lower court had not considered the appeal as the deadline had expired.
The Federal Court examined the question of whether the lower court had violated the prohibition of arbitrariness (Art. 9 Cst.) in conjunction with Art. 95 lit. a FSCA and Art. 6 ECHR, as well as the prohibition of excessive formalism (Art. 29 para. 1 Cst.). The court came to the conclusion that the lower court had violated federal law by not considering the appeal.
The Federal Court also examined the question of whether the restoration of the time limit pursuant to Art. 12 VRG was admissible. The…