RE LAKHVIR SINGH

CACV 584/2020

[2021] HKCA 1241

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF APPEAL

CIVIL APPEAL NO 584 OF 2020

(ON APPEAL FROM HCAL NO. 230 of 2018)

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JUDGMENT

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Hon Chu JA giving the Judgment of the Court:

1.  On 27 July 2021, this Court handed down our judgment[1] dismissing the applicant’s appeal against the decision of Deputy High Court Judge Bruno Chan given on 17 June 2020 which refused to give him leave to apply for judicial review.     

2.  On 2 August 2021, the applicant filed a notice of motion to apply for leave to appeal against our judgment to the Court of Final Appeal.  He has also put in a written submission to support his application.

3.  Having considered the applicant’s notice of motion and written submission, we see no reason to depart from the usual practice of determining applications for leave to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal on paper without an oral hearing.  We have therefore proceeded to determine the applicant’s application on the basis of the documents in the case.

4.  The background to this case and the applicant’s claim have been set out in our judgment.  We will not repeat them.

5.  Under section 22(1)(b) of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance, Cap. 484, leave to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal may be granted if the question involved in the appeal is one which, by reason of its great general or public importance, or otherwise, ought to be submitted to the Court of Final Appeal for decision.

6.  The notice of motion stated that the applicant’s life is still in danger in his country and he shall be killed by his uncle over a land dispute.  It also asserted that there is some error of law in the decision of his case, as the decision maker just relied on country of origin information (“COI”) and facts that favour the rejection of his claim, when the real situation is different from what is mentioned in the COI, and the officer and the court had ignored the overwhelming evidence of violence towards minorities and adopted a biased, formulaic and unfair approach in assessing his claim.   

7.  The written submission is identical to the one he put forward in support of his appeal before this Court.     

8.  We are of the view that the matters stated in the notice of motion and the written submission do not provide viable grounds for granting leave to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal.  Firstly, all the matters raised in the notice of motion and written submission relate to the applicant’s individual claim.  No question of great general or public importance has been identified, as required by section 22(1)(b).  Secondly, for the reasons we gave at [19] to [22], the matters advanced by the applicant have no merits. 

9.  We also do not see any basis for granting leave on the “otherwise” limb under section 22(1)(b).

10.  As the statutory requirements for giving leave to appeal are not met, we dismiss the notice of motion.