Tocaben Alben Dalmacio v. Torture Claims Appeal Board / Non-refoulement Claims Petition Office

HCAL 552/2021

[2026] HKCFI 1175

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CONSTITUTIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW LIST No 552 of 2021

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 the documents and the oral submissions of the Applicant in open court;

Order by Deputy High Court Judge (Non-refoulement Claims) Jeffrey Chau:

1.  Form 86 be amended, naming only the Torture Claims Appeal Board / Non-refoulement Claims Petition Office as the Putative Respondent and only the Director of Immigration as the Putative Interested Party.

2.  The application for leave to apply for judicial review be dismissed.

Observations for the Applicant:

Introduction

1.By a Form 86 submitted on 20 April 2021[1] (the “Form 86”), the Applicant applied for leave to apply for judicial review against the decision by the Torture Claims Appeal Board (the “TCAB”) dated 28 January 2021 (the “TCAB Decision”), which affirmed the decisions of the Director of Immigration (the “DOI”) dated 18 February 2015 and 18 May 2017.

2.I amend Form 86 on my own motion to name the TCAB as the putative respondent and the DOI as the putative interested party.

3.The Applicant requested for a hearing of this application. When asked, he said he had nothing to add.

Background

4.The Applicant was a national of Philippines. In gist, fears that if he is refouled, he would be harmed or killed by his creditor. He also said that his father ill-treated him because he was gay. The Applicant’s personal background, the relevant facts and relevant procedural history have been sufficiently set out in the TCAB Decision, which can be viewed through a hyperlink[2]. I shall therefore not repeat them. Unless otherwise specified, TCAB’s abbreviations and descriptions are adopted herein.

Discussion

5.The leave application operates as a filtering process and there is no requirement or expectation to give elaborate reasons for my decision: Re Zunariyah [2018] HKCA 14 at [23]. It is sufficient to state my observations after considering the TCAB Decision and the materials adduced by the Applicant.

6.I remind myself that in a judicial review, this court does not provide a further avenue of appeal. While I also remind myself that in non-refoulement cases, I would adopt an enhanced standard in scrutinizing the decision of the TCAB given the seriousness of the issue at hand, this court would not usurp the role of the TCAB, which together with the DOI are the primary decision-makers. A finding of fact is exclusively within the realm of the TCAB, and this court will not intervene by way of judicial review unless there are errors of law or procedural unfairness or irrationality in the decision of the TCAB: Nupur Mst v Director of Immigration [2018] HKCA 524 at [14(1)]. There must be a reasonably arguable case with a realistic prospect of success before leave for judicial review will be granted: Peter Po Fun Chan v Winnie Cheung (2007) 10 HKCFAR 676.

7.In a proper Form 86, an applicant is required to identify the grounds of judicial review clearly and succinctly: Ho Loy v Director of Environmental Protection (unreported, HCAL 21/2015, 22 December 2016) at [142], and further to make full and frank disclosure of all material facts to be verified by an affidavit.

8.The Applicant did not state any grounds on which the relief is sought, other than stating in his affidavit that, “…[the TCAB] disregard my dangerous situation”, and hence did not point to any error of law, procedural unfairness or irrationality of the TCAB Decision in the Form 86.

9.As can be seen from the TCAB Decision, the TCAB took into account all the evidence available and found that on the basis of the same, applying the correct legal principles in respect of all the applicable grounds under the Unified Screening Mechanism, the Applicant’s allegations were insufficient to make out any of the applicable grounds [109-143]. This was a clear-cut case. The Applicant’s evidence was hopelessly inconsistent e.g. [78-97]. Coupled with the Applicant’s delay in making his application for non-refoulement [98-100] and the implausibility of his case [102], it is wholly expected that that TCAB rejected the centerpieces of the Applicant’s case [103-108].

10.All in all, I do not see any errors of law, procedural unfairness or irrationality in the TCAB Decision, despite rigorous examination and anxious scrutiny. The Applicant’s intended challenge to the TCAB Decision is not reasonably arguable, and accordingly the application for leave to apply for judicial review is dismissed.

Dated the 12^th day of March 2026

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

Form CALL-1