A catch-22 situation : bringing an interim application to have a high court tax dispute heard behind closed doors

Abstract

The phrase “a catch-22” situation was coined in the popular novel Catch-22 by Joseph Heller to illustrate the absurd constraints put on soldiers during World War II. The character, Doc Daneeka, invokes the phrase to explain that pilots who request mental evaluations in order to be declared unfit (not sane enough) to fly an aircraft (to escape dangerous missions) are paradoxical, as the pilots had the rationality of mind to make the request for the medical evaluation in the first place (Heller Catch-22 (1961) ch 5). The phrase typically refers to a contradictory situation where one cannot escape the relevant rules or regulations.