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Gurinderpal Singh v. Torture Claims Appeal Board / Non-refoulement Claims Petition Office

Case No.HCAL 1171/2020[2024] HKCFI 3455
Court
High Court CFI
Date17 Dec 2024
Judge—
Case Document
100%

HCAL 1171/2020

[2024] HKCFI 3455

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CONSTITUTIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW LIST No. 1171 of 2020

BETWEEN    
Gurinderpal Singh Applicant
and
Torture Claims Appeal Board/
Non-refoulement Claims Petition Office		 Putative Respondent
and
Director of Immigration Putative Interested Party

Application for Leave to Apply for Judicial Review
NOTIFICATION of the Judge’s decision (Ord. 53 r. 3)

Following;

    consideration of documents only;          or
    consideration of documents and Applicant being absent in open court;

Order by Deputy High Court Judge K.W. Lung:

Leave to apply for Judicial Review be dismissed.

Observations for the Applicant:

THE APPLICATION

1.The applicant was an illegal immigrant. He had made non-refoulement claim to the Director of Immigration (“the Director”). The Director refused his claim. He appealed to the Torture Claims Appeal Board/Non-refoulement Claims Petition Office (“the Board”) The Board dismissed his appeal.

2.The applicant’s claim is based on his fear that, if refouled, he will be harmed or killed by some supporters of the Akali Dal Party. The Director found that his claim was unsubstantiated. He appealed to the Board. He was late to file the notice of appeal for 4 years and 2 months and 2 years and 1 month and 14 days in respect of the Director’s Notice of Decision and the Director’s Further Notice of Decision. His explanation for being late was not accepted by the Board. The Board therefore refused to allow him to file his notice of appeal, effectively dismissing his appeal (“the Board’s Decision”).

3.The applicant filed Form 86 on 12 June 2020 to apply for leave to apply for judicial review of the Board’s Decision.  He has raised no valid reason to challenge the Board’s Decision.

4.The Immigration Department informed the Court that the applicant has been removed, which means the applicant has already left Hong Kong.

5.Section 37ZF of the Ordinance provides, inter alia,

“Deemed withdrawal of torture claim on claimant’s departure

(1)  A torture claim (whether a claim pending final determination or a substantiated claim) made by a claimant who is subject or liable to removal must be treated as withdrawn if the claimant (for whatever reason) leaves Hong Kong.”

6.Final determination includes the judicial review proceedings[1].

7.There is nothing outstanding in this action. The Court will refuse to grant the relief as it will serve no practical purpose since the applicant has returned to his country[2]. For case management, this application should be dismissed.

8.The application is dismissed.

9.A copy of this Form CALL-1 and the sealed order shall be sent to the Director with the request that he uses his best endeavour to forward them to the applicant.

Dated the 17th day of December 2024

  (M.O. WONG)(Ms)
for Registrar, High Court


Where leave to apply has been granted, Applicants and their legal advisers are reminded of their obligation to reconsider the merits of their application in the light of the Respondent’s evidence



Notes for the Applicant:

If leave has been granted, the Applicant or the Applicant’s solicitors must:

        
a) serve on the respondent and such interested parties as may be directed by the Court the order granting leave and any directions given within 14 days after the leave was granted (Order 53, rule 4A);

b) issue the originating summons within 14 days after the grant of leave and serve it in accordance with Order 53, rule 5; and

c) supply to every other party copies of every affidavit which the Applicant proposes to use at the hearing, including the affidavit in support of the application for leave (Order 53, rule 6(5)).
   Sent to the Applicant
on 17/12/2024

Gurinderpal Singh

Applicant’s ref. no:
Nil
   Sent to the Putative Respondent / the Putative Respondent’s solicitors / such Putative Interested Parties as may be directed by the Court / the Putative Interested Parties’ solicitors on 17/12/2024
 
Torture Claims Appeal Board/Non-refoulement Claims Petition Office
Putative Respondent’s ref. no.:
USM 15929/19/5/69/IN3094

Director of Immigration
Putative Interested Party’s ref. no.:
QA T/C 90000718/16 and QA T/C 246/14 (formerly RBCZ 75/14)
 
Department of Justice,
Senior Assistant Law Officer
(Civil Law)
(Civil Litigation Unit 2)

Form CALL-1


[1] The Court of Appeal in Re: Aioub Ali [2019] HKCA 1329. Hon Lam VP (as he then was), Wong and S T Poon, 2 December 2019, held:

“16. Under Section 23(4) of Schedule 1A of the Immigration Ordinance, the decision of the Board is final.  Final means final in terms of administrative process.  However, such statutory provision does not exclude judicial review.  In a judicial review, the court will process the matter by examining if there is public law ground to warrant intervention as discussed in [13(1)] above.”

[2] The Court of Appeal in AW v Director of Immigration and William Lam CACV 63/2015, Hon Lam VP, Kwan and Poon JJA (as they then were), 3 November 2015 held:

“67. It is well established that the court may exercise discretion not to grant a remedy on judicial review if it would serve no practical purpose, where it may have become otiose or pointless to grant a remedy because the relevant detriment to the applicant has been removed (De Smith’s Judicial Review (7th ed) at §§18-054 to 18-056; Judicial Review by Supperstone, Goudie and Walker (5th ed) at §18.18.1).”

Cites 2 cases

Cases cited in this judgment

Re Aioub Ali
[2019] HKCA 1329 · Court of Appeal
02 Dec 2019
Full analysis
Aw v. Director of Immigration and Another
CACV 63/2015 · Court of Appeal
03 Nov 2015
Full analysis
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