Re Dhaliwal Gurcharan Singh

Read the full judgment text of CACV 142/2018 on BabelCite. This Court of Appeal judgment was delivered on 12 November 2018.

1. On 10 September 2018, this Court (Yuen and Chu JJA) handed down our judgment (“the Judgment”) dismissing the applicant’s application for leave to appeal out of time against the decision of Deputy High Court Judge Woodcock given on 4 May 2018 refusing him leave to apply for judicial review.

Cited by 2 cases

Case No.CACV 142/2018[2018] HKCA 751
Court
Court of Appeal
Date12 Nov 2018
Judge
Case Document
100%Judiciary

CACV 142/2018

[2018] HKCA 751

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF APPEAL

CIVIL APPEAL NO. 142 OF 2018

(ON APPEAL FROM HCAL NO. 437 of 2017)

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RE DHALIWAL GURCHARAN SINGH Applicant

________________________

Before: Hon Yuen, Chu and Barma JJA in Court

Date of judgment: 12 November 2018

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JUDGMENT

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Hon Chu JA (giving the Judgment of the Court):

1.On 10 September 2018, this Court (Yuen and Chu JJA) handed down our judgment (“the Judgment”) dismissing the applicant’s application for leave to appeal out of time against the decision of Deputy High Court Judge Woodcock given on 4 May 2018 refusing him leave to apply for judicial review.  

2.By a Notice of Motion dated 17 September 2018, the applicant applied for leave to appeal against our judgment to the Court of Final Appeal.  On 4 October 2018, the applicant also put in a written submission in support of his application. 

3.Pursuant to paragraph 3 of Practice Direction 2.1 on Applications for leave to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal filed in the Court of Appeal in Civil Cases, we consider it is appropriate to deal with this application on paper without an oral hearing.

4.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.

5.The Notice of Motion set out the following grounds of appeal:

“(1) I could not provide a full picture of the grounds of appeal because of the lack of language assistance provided to me throughout the case.

(2) The failure to lodge the skeleton submission was due to an oversight as a result of the lack of language assistance.

(3) While I appreciate that the findings towards my case has been credible, I do not agree that it is possible for me to relocate to other parts of India. This is because in doing so I will either have to move myself or to take my whole family with me.  If I move myself, my family will be at risk of being harmed while they are on the way to the other city.  If I were to move, I will still be at risk despite Dilbag being a low-level political figure.  Dilbag was low-level in 2016 when there was an election, and I believe the authorities should be considering the risk that happens if I return, which should not be considerable based on his influence in 2016, but rather in 2018.”

6.The written submission essentially repeated what was stated in the Notice of Motion.

7.The matters set out in the Notice of Motion and the written submission relate to the facts of the applicant’s case. They are case-specific and do not involve any question of great, general or public importance. 

8.Further, there is no merit in the complaint of lack of language assistance.  The Notice of Appeal had set out the grounds of appeal in clear terms. 

9.As to the complaint about the Board’s finding that internal relocation alternatives were reasonably available, this was not among the grounds for judicial review before the Judge.  Nor was it one of the grounds of appeal before this Court.  It is not open to the applicant to raise new issues and new arguments in an application for leave to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal.

10.In any event, this new ground is not reasonably arguable.  In addition to Dilbag being a low level political figure, the Board also found, on the available information, that the Akali Dal Badal Party was only a very junior member of the coalition government, and the power of Dilbag has reduced since the 2016 Punjab election.  The Board accordingly concluded there was no real risk of the applicant being harmed by Dilbag and the Akali Dal supporters if he was refouled to India and relocated to live in other parts of the country.  There is no proper basis for the Court to interfere with the findings and conclusion of the Board.

11.There is also no other reason for submitting the proposed appeal to the Court of Final Appeal for decision. 

12.In the circumstances, the condition for giving leave to appeal is not met.  Accordingly, we dismiss the Notice of Motion.

(Maria Yuen) (Carlye Chu) (Aarif Barma)
Justice of Appeal
Justice of Appeal
Justice of Appeal

The applicant, unrepresented, acted in person.

Other Judgments in This Case

Further hearings and rulings under CACV 142/2018