Re Satinder Pal Singh

HCAL 669/2018

[2019] HKCFI 2276

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CONSTITUTIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW LIST

NO 669 OF 2018

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DECISION

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1.On 2 August 2019 Deputy High Court Judge Josiah Lam 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/Board or its decision, and that there was no reasonable prospect of success in his intended application.

2.The applicant now by a summons issued on 28 August 2019 seeks leave to appeal against that decision out of time, as the 14-day period for him to file his appeal under Order 53, rule 3(4) of the Rules of the High Court, Cap 4A was thought to have ended on 16 August 2019, and hence he believed that he was out of time with the filing of his intended appeal.

3.Order 3, rule 3 of the Rules of the High Court however provides that the period of the Summer Vacation shall be excluded in reckoning any period prescribed by these rules or by any order or direction for serving, filing or amending any pleading, and hence in the applicant’s case, the period of the Summer Vacation from 1 to 31 August 2019 will be excluded in reckoning the 14-day period for him to file his notice of appeal.  He is therefore not late and will not be so up to 14 September 2019.  In the premises it is not necessary for him to proceed with his summons, which is dismissed accordingly. 

The applicant was not represented and did not appear