RE NAMGEL LAMA

HCAL 1346/2018

[2020] HKCFI 2303

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CONSTITUTIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW LIST

NO 1346 OF 2018  

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D E C I S I O N

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1.  On 15 January 2020 I refused to grant leave to the Applicant to apply for judicial review of the decision of the Director of Immigration (“the Director”) or the Torture Claims Appeal Board (“the Board”) in rejecting/dismissing 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 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 8 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 ended on 29 January 2020, and hence he was late by more than 4 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 more than 4 months must be considered as substantial, for which he explained at the hearing of his summons that he received the decision late and that thereafter he was unable to file his appeal due to the general adjournment of legal proceedings at that time as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic until sometime in June 2020 when he was by then already way out of time with his appeal.

5.  It is true that the general adjournment of proceedings (“GAP”) announced by the Judiciary on 29 January 2020 happened to be the last day for the Applicant to file his appeal, while the previous 4 days from 25 to 28 January 2020 were the Chinese New Year holiday, and with the GAP ended only on 3 May 2020, I accept that the Applicant has valid reasons for his delay, and that there are justifications to allow him to file his appeal out of time.      

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