SATWINDER SINGH v. TORTURE CLAIMS APPEAL BOARD / NON-REFOULEMENT CLAIMS PETITION OFFICE

HCAL 695/2021

[2025] HKCFI 6035

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CONSTITUTIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW LIST No 695 of 2021

Application for Leave to Apply for Judicial Review
NOTIFICATION of the Judge’s decision (Ord 53 r 3)

Following:

	consideration of documents only;          or
	consideration of the documents and oral submissions by the Applicant in open court;

The application for leave to apply for judicial review be dismissed.

Observations for the Applicant:

Introduction

1.  By a Form 86 dated 17 May 2021 (the “Form 86”), the Applicant applied for leave to apply for judicial review against the decision by the Torture Claims Appeal Board (the “TCAB”) dated 27 April 2021 (the “TCAB Decision”), which affirmed the decision of the Director of Immigration (the “DOI”) dated 9 October 2018.

2.  The Applicant requested for a hearing of this application and he attended the same. When asked if he had anything to add, he said that he had just become a father. His wife was a domestic helper in HK, and requested that he could stay with her. He was the one taking care of the child as his wife had only one day off in a week.

Background

3.  The Applicant is a national of India. In gist, the Applicant claimed that he was at risk of being seriously harmed in India by an unknown group of criminals who had an adverse interest in him because of his association with his friend who was a drug addict. The Applicant’s personal background, the relevant facts and relevant procedural history have been sufficiently set out in the TCAB Decision, which can be viewed through a hyperlink[1]. I shall therefore not repeat them. Unless otherwise specified, TCAB’s abbreviations and descriptions are adopted herein.

Discussion

4.  The leave application operates as a filtering process and there is no requirement or expectation to give elaborate reasons for my decision: Re Zunariyah [2018] HKCA 14 at [23]. It is sufficient to state my observations after considering the TCAB Decision and the materials adduced by the Applicant.

5.  I remind myself that in a judicial review, this court does not provide a further avenue of appeal. While I also remind myself that in non-refoulement cases, I would adopt an enhanced standard in scrutinizing the decision of the TCAB given the seriousness of the issue at hand, this court would not usurp the role of the TCAB, which together with the DOI are the primary decision-makers. A finding of fact is exclusively within the realm of the TCAB, and this court will not intervene by way of judicial review unless there are errors of law or procedural unfairness or irrationality in the decision of the TCAB: Nupur Mst v Director of Immigration [2018] HKCA 524 at [14(1)]. There must be a reasonably arguable case with a realistic prospect of success before leave for judicial review will be granted: Peter Po Fun Chan v Winnie Cheung (2007) 10 HKCFAR 676.

6.  In a proper Form 86, an applicant is required to identify the grounds of judicial review clearly and succinctly: Ho Loy v Director of Environmental Protection (unreported, HCAL 21/2015, 22 December 2016) at [142], and further to make full and frank disclosure of all material facts to be verified by an affidavit.

7.  The Applicant did not state any grounds on which the relief is sought, and hence did not point to any error of law, procedural unfairness or irrationality of the TCAB Decision in the Form 86.

8.  As can be seen from the TCAB Decision, the TCAB took into account all the evidence available and found that on the basis of the same, applying the correct legal principles in respect of the applicable grounds under the Unified Screening Mechanism[2], the Applicant’s allegations were insufficient to make out any of the applicable grounds [58-84]. This is notwithstanding the fact that the TCAB accepted, for the purposes of this decision, that the core aspects of his claimed account of events was based on actual events and fact [55], and accordingly, found the bulk of his case to be credible [56]. This is because the TCAB, having taken into account the country of origin information and the specific circumstances of the case in question, found that relocation to a different area was viable for him [65-70, 80] (2) and state protection would be available to him [76-79]. The TCAB’s analysis was nuanced and fair.

9.  I have also carefully considered the Applicant’s oral submissions. The Applicant’s family circumstances in Hong Kong are not valid grounds or relevant consideration in relation to his own non-refoulement claim: Oguzie Ikechukwu Charles v Torture Claims Appeal Board, unreported, CACV 469/2021, 21 January 2022, [2022] HKCA 135, at [20].

10.  All in all, I do not see any errors of law, procedural unfairness or irrationality in the TCAB Decision, despite rigorous examination and anxious scrutiny. The Applicant’s intended challenge to the TCAB Decision is not reasonably arguable, and accordingly the application for leave to apply for judicial review is dismissed.

Where leave to apply has been granted, Applicants and their legal advisers are reminded of their obligation to reconsider the merits of their application in the light of the Respondent’s evidence

Form CALL-1