Re Istamah

CACV 107/2021

[2021] HKCA 1459

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF APPEAL

CIVIL APPEAL NO. 107 OF 2021

(ON APPEAL FROM HCAL NO. 222 OF 2019)

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Before : Hon Cheung JA, B Chu J in Court

Date of Decision : 7 October 2021

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D E C I S I O N

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Hon B Chu J (giving the Decision of the Court) :

1)  Leave to appeal to Court of Final Appeal

1.1On 6 August 2021, this Court handed down a judgment dismissing the applicant’s appeal against the decision of Deputy High Court Judge C P Pang of 4 March 2021 in which he refused to grant leave to the applicant to apply for judicial review.

1.2The facts and issues in the appeal before the Court of Appeal, as well as the Court’s reasons for dismissing it, are set out in our judgment.  We will not repeat them here.

1.3The applicant now applies, by a notice of motion dated 23 August 2021 (“Notice of Motion”), for leave to appeal against our judgment to the Court of Final Appeal.

1.4In her Notice of Motion, the applicant stated that “there is some error in law in my decision.  Decision maker just relied on COL Information and my previous facts which were in favor while rejecting my claim.  Acual (sic) life occur different situation then what is mentioned in COL Information.  The Officer and cours (sic) prefers to ignore the overwheming (sic) of the evidence of this violence towards minorities searching for unrealistic silver lining.  The Decision is betrary (sic) a bias and formula approach unlikely fairly access the danger of my life and clearly not reasonable”.

1.5The applicant further lodged written submissions on 6 September 2021.  She referred to various authorities but did not state how those authorities applied to her case.  She submitted that the Adjudicator acted in a procedurally unfair manner in dealing with her application and without properly assessing her credibility.  She submitted our judgment was unreasonable.  She had referred to section 37ZT for late filing of notice of appeal which is not applicable for her present application.  

2)  Legal principles

2.Under section 22(1)(b) of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance (Cap. 484) (‘HKCFAO’) leave to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal will only be granted if the question to be determined involves great general or public importance or otherwise ought to be determined by the Court of Final Appeal.

3)  Our view

3.1The matters stated by the applicant in her Notice of Motion do not constitute grounds for granting leave to the Court of Final Appeal.  The applicant has failed to identify any question of great general or public importance for the Court of Final Appeal to determine in accordance with section 22(1)(b) of the HKCFAO.  Nor is there any such question apparent to us from what is stated by the applicant in the Notice of Motion. 

3.2We also do not see any basis for granting leave on the ‘or otherwise’ limb under section 22(1)(b).

4)  Disposition

4.For these reasons, the Notice of Motion dated 23 August 2021 is dismissed.

Applicant, unrepresented, acting in person