Re Sesay Hassana

HCAL 543/2018

[2019] HKCFI 2910

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CONSTITUTIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW LIST

NO 543 OF 2018

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Before:  Deputy High Court Judge Bruno Chan in Chambers

Date of Hearing:  30 October 2019

Date of Decision:  17 December 2019

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D E C I S I O N

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1.On 19 July 2019 I refused to grant leave to the Applicant to apply for judicial review of the decisions of the Director of Immigration (“the Director”) or of the Torture Claims Appeal Board (“the Board”) in rejecting/dismissing his non-refoulement claim upon finding none of the grounds put forward by him as 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 9 September 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 ended on 2 September 2019 after discounting the month of August as the court’s summer vacation, and hence he was late by seven days with his intended appeal. 

3.In considering whether to extend time for appealing against a decision refusing leave to appeal 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 seven days may not be regarded as significant, for which he explained at the hearing that as he needed to find someone to explain the decision to him and to prepare the necessary application for him which therefore caused the slight delay.  In the circumstances and given the relatively insignificant delay, I propose to focus on the prospect of his intended appeal.   

5.However, neither in his summons or affirmation did he provide any draft or proposed grounds of appeal, or any particulars of any error in the decision, or why it may be argued that the decision was unfair or unreasonable, and in his letter dated 4 November 2019 subsequent to the hearing when he was given further time to provide his proposed grounds of appeal, he merely repeated his claim that his life would be at risk if returned to his home country, and that he has since married a local resident in Hong Kong and hence he would like to be allowed to remain here, none of which of course can be accepted as any valid ground of appeal.  As such and in the absence of any error in the decision being clearly and properly identified by the Applicant, I do not see any prospect of success in his intended appeal. 

6.In the premises, it would be futile to extend time for what appears to be a hopeless appeal.  Accordingly I refuse his application for leave to appeal out of time, and dismiss his summons.

The applicant appeared in person