RE AWAN TANVEER AHMED

HCAL 1393/2018

[2020] HKCFI 2667

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CONSTITUTIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW LIST

NO 1393 OF 2018  

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D E C I S I O N

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1.  On 16 January 2020 I refused to grant leave to the Applicant to apply for judicial review of the decision of the Torture Claims Appeal Board (“the Board”) in dismissing his appeal regarding his non-refoulement claim upon finding none of the grounds put forward by him reasonably arguable for his intended challenge, that there was no error of law or procedural unfairness in the process before the Director of Immigration or the Board or in their decisions, and that there was no reasonable prospect of success in his intended application.

2.  The Applicant now by a summons issued on 29 June 2020 seeks extension of time to appeal against that decision, as the 14-day period for him to file his appeal under Order 53 rule 3(4) of the Rules of High Court, Cap 4A expired on 30 January 2020, and hence he was late by 5 months with his intended appeal. 

3.  In considering whether to extend time for appealing against a decision refusing leave to apply for judicial review, the court shall have regard to (i) the length of the delay; (ii) the reason for the delay; (iii) the prospect of the intended appeal; and (iv) the prejudice to the respondent if an extension of time were granted: see Re MK HCMP 2609/2016, 10 January 2017; Chu On Fong Winter v The Appeal Panel (Housing) HCMP 982/2017, 20 July 2017; Islam Raja Rais v Director of Immigration HCMP 881/2017, 26 June 2017; Re Gurung Min Bahadur [2018] HKCA 226; and Re Saqlain Muhammad [2018] HKCA 346.

4.  In the Applicant’s case, a delay of 5 months must be considered as significant, for which he explained at the hearing that he never received the decision in the mail and was only later informed by his immigration officer of the decision when by then he was already out of time with his intended appeal.

5.  While the Applicant did not produce any documentary evidence in support of his claim, the fact is that the deadline for him to file his notice of appeal actually fell after the General Adjourned Period (“GAP”) for all court proceedings announced by the Judiciary on 29 January 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic resulting in general closure of the court and tribunal registries until 3 May 2020, and thereafter with staggered re-openings and with reduced operation hours and limited people flow. In the circumstances I accept these are justifications to extend time for the Applicant to file his appeal.

6.  In the premises, and accordingly I grant the Applicant an extension of time to file his notice of appeal within 14 days of this order.