Farida Dharma Wanti v. Torture Claims Appeal Board / Non-refoulement Claims Petition Office

CACV 278/2020

[2021] HKCA 347

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF APPEAL

CIVIL APPEAL NO 278 OF 2020

(ON APPEAL FROM HCAL NO 1813 of 2018)

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BETWEEN

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Before:  Hon Chu JA, Au JA and S T Poon J in Court

Date of Written Submission:  16 February 2021

Date of Judgment:  20 April 2021

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J U D G M E N T

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Hon S T Poon J (giving the Judgment of the Court):

1.On 21 January 2021, this Court (Chu JA and S T Poon J) handed down our judgment[1] (the “Judgment”) dismissing the applicant’s appeal against the decision of Deputy High Court Judge K.W. Lung given on 9 July 2020 refusing leave to apply for judicial review. The applicant had sought judicial review of the decision of the Torture Claims Appeal Board dismissing her appeal from the decision of the Director of Immigration rejecting her non-refoulement claim.

2.The applicant filed a Notice of Motion on 1 February 2021 for leave to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal and lodged her written submissions on 16 February 2021.

3.Pursuant to the directions made by the Registrar of Civil Appeals on 3 February 2021, the Notice of Motion shall be determined on paper only without an oral hearing, unless the court otherwise directs.  We agree it is appropriate to determine this application on paper.

4.In the Notice of Motion, the applicant stated as follows:

“Respected sir/madam its an my humble request to you that I have problem in own country please give me some time to stay here so that I can solve my problem. At this moment I cannot go back to my home country because danger still there for me.

please allow me to process further my case. I will be great full to your kindness.” (sic)

5.In the written submissions the applicant repeated her skeleton submissions filed on 30 November 2020 in support of her appeal to this court.  The grounds and arguments of the applicant had already been dealt with by this court in paragraphs 20 to 22 of our Judgment. 

6.Section 22(1)(b) of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance (Cap 484) provides that leave to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal shall be granted at the discretion of the Court of Appeal or the Court of Final Appeal if the question in the appeal involves great general or public importance or otherwise ought to be determined by the Court of Final Appeal.

7.No question of great general or public importance has been identified in the grounds in the Notice of Motion.

8.Nor do we see any basis for granting leave on the “or otherwise” limb under section 22(1)(b).

9.In the circumstances, we cannot find any basis for granting leave to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal.

10.By virtue of the above, the Notice of Motion dated 1 February 2021 is dismissed.

The applicant, unrepresented, acted in person.