AMANPREET v. TORTURE CLAIMS APPEAL BOARD/NON-REFOULEMENT CLAIMS PETITION OFFICE [Decision on Leave Application]
Leave to apply for judicial review was dismissed because the applicant had died, the cause of action had terminated, and the court exercised its discretion not to grant relief that would serve no practical purpose (application abated on death).
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2025] HKCFI 99
- Parties
- Applicant: Amanpreet; Putative Respondent: Torture Claims Appeal Board/Non-refoulement Claims Petition Office; Putative Interested Party: Director of Immigration
- Court
- Court of First Instance
- Jurisdiction
- Hong Kong
- Judgment Date
- 7 January 2025
- Case Number
- HCAL411/2020
- Procedural Posture
- Application for Leave to Apply for Judicial Review / Leave Application Dismissed
- Outcome
- Leave to apply for judicial review dismissed.
- Legal Topics
- Non Refoulement, Abatement on Death, Leave to Apply for Judicial Review, Discretion to Refuse Otiose Remedies
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
Amanpreet
Applicant
Torture Claims Appeal Board/Non-refoulement Claims Petition Office
Putative Respondent
Director of Immigration
Putative Interested Party
Procedural Posture
Application for Leave to Apply for Judicial Review / Leave Application Dismissed
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the application for leave abates on the applicant's death
- 2 Whether the court should exercise its discretion to refuse relief that would serve no practical purpose
Ratio Decidendi
Leave to apply for judicial review was dismissed because the applicant had died, the cause of action had terminated, and the court exercised its discretion not to grant relief that would serve no practical purpose (application abated on death).
Court Disposition
Leave to apply for judicial review dismissed.
Orders
- Leave to apply for judicial review dismissed.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
1 paragraphs
bjbj HCAL 411/2020 [2025] HKCFI 99 IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE CONSTITUTIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW LIST No. 2890 of 2019 BETWEEN Amanpreet Applicant and Torture Claims Appeal Board/ Non-refoulement Claims Petition Office Putative Respondent 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 applicant was an illegal immigrant and had made non-refoulement claim to the Director of Immigration ( the Director ). The Director refused the claim. The applicant appealed to the Torture Claims Appeal Board/Non-refoulement Claims Petition Office ( the Board ) and by the Board s Decision, the appeal was dismissed. The applicant filed Form 86 to apply for leave to apply for judicial review of the Board s Decision. The Court received information from the Immigration Department that the applicant has deceased. For the purpose of case management and the reasons below, this application should be dismissed: The action has come to an end, with no party surviving it. Paragraph 15/7/2 of The Hong Kong Civil Procedure 2025, Vol. 1: Abatement of action - If death terminates the cause of action, in the interest of the party, the action is at an end (Bowker v Evans (1885) 15 Q.B.D. 565, CA; Phillips v Homfray (1883) 24 Ch.D. 456, CA; Batthyany v. Wakfird (1887) 36 Ch.D. 269 at 281, CA; James v. Morgan [1909]1 K.B. 564 The court will not grant the remedy sought in the action as it will serve no practical purpose. The Court of Appeal in AW v. Director of Immigration and William Lam CACV 63 of 2015, Hon. Lam VP, Kwan and Poon JJA, 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). I dismiss the applicant s application. Dated the 7th day of January 2025 (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 7/1/2025 Amanpreet 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 7/1/2025 Torture Claims Appeal Board/Non-refoulement Claims Petition Office Putative Respondent s ref. no.: USM 9207/17/11/218/IN1732 Director of Immigration Putative Interested Party s ref. no.: QA T/C 2107/17 (formerly RBCZ 11668/15) T8I80 Department of Justice, Senior Assistant Law Officer (Civil Law) (Civil Litigation Unit 2) Form CALL-1 PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT fXfXfXfXK= gd;5 gd;5 gd;5 gd;5 gd;5 gd;5 raTG hEQh gd;5 gd;5 gd;5 gdvd gd]T gd]T gd;5 hltd hltd hltd hltd hltd hltd hltd gd;5 gdltd gdltd gdltd }jWI8 gd;5 gd;5 gd;5 gd;5 gd;5 TBTB h&!' yhZhH gd;5 gd;5 gd;5 gd;5 gd;5 [Content_Types].xml _rels/.rels theme/theme/themeManager.xml K Y, sQ}# theme/theme/theme1.xml $O}) Xp90 +PHI| PP yu 9xu5 fs+W VF7H q=. 8}d- qyI@ j!Q_ jyV` |PZ+ T ""p < 4V O&x$ A8>v ;EUC n 8r *~P(5 .}x E /,EE\} theme/theme/_rels/themeManager.xml.rels 5 6?$Q K(M&$R(.1 [Content_Types].xmlPK _rels/.relsPK theme/theme/themeManager.xmlPK theme/theme/theme1.xmlPK theme/theme/_rels/themeManager.xml.relsPK <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?> <a:clrMap xmlns:a="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/drawingml/2006/main" bg1="lt1" tx1="dk1" bg2="lt2" tx2="dk2" accent1="accent1" accent2="accent2" accent3="accent3" accent4="accent4" accent5="accent5" accent6="accent6" hlink="hlink" folHlink="folHlink"/> @NMl ]EGP O2]R b Bo b Bo V?@k Far) N*O( KimWan Lung Normal.dotm Windows User Microsoft Office Word Times New Roman Times New Roman HCAL [202 ] HKCFI Times New Roman IN THE HIGH COURT OF HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE CONSTITUTIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW LIST BETWEEN Amanpreet Applicant Torture Claims Appeal Boar refoulement Claims Petition Office Putative Respondent Director of Immigration Putative Interested Party Application for Leave to Apply for Judicial Review NOTIFICATION of the Judge decision (Ord. 53 r. 3) Following Wingdings 2 onsideration of documents only; or consideration of documents and Applicant being absent in open court; Order by Deputy High Court Judge K.W. Lung Times New Roman Leave to apply for Judicial Review be dismiss Observations for the Applicant: "Arial The appl icant was an illegal immigrant and had made non refoulement claim to the Director of Immigration ( the Director The Director refused the claim. The applicant appealed to the Torture Claims Appeal Board/Non refoulement Claims Petition Office ( the Boar ) and by the Board s Decision, the appeal was dismissed. 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