Hong Kong judge slams officials for tardiness over legal challenge against tech hub expansion

Legal Aid Department left applicant of judicial review ‘in the dark’ and was too slow in deciding whether it would cover latter’s legal fees

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San Tin has been earmarked for the development of a technopole, but environmentalists have objected to the scale of its proposed expansion. Photo: May Tse

Published: 1:24pm, 13 Nov 2024Updated: 3:47pm, 13 Nov 2024

A Hong Kong judge who earlier permitted a legal challenge against the government’s approval of an environmental study for the San Tin Technopole project has slammed the Legal Aid Department for dragging its feet on whether it will cover the applicant’s fees.

Handing down a judgment on Wednesday, Mr Justice Russell Coleman expressed dismay at the department’s tardiness, despite the court ruling in August that the judicial review of the technology infrastructure project under the proposed Northern Metropolis megaproject was of great public interest.

Social worker Eddie Tse Sai-kit requested a stay of proceedings last month, asking Coleman to give the applicant’s side more time, as the department had not decided whether the government would cover the cost for the judicial challenge.

The judge said on Wednesday that “whilst it was not for me to tell the director of legal aid what to do or when to do it, this case is of sufficient public interest that the legal aid application should be progressed as fast as possible, and a determination on it reached one way or the other”.

He also dismissed Tse’s second application for a stay of proceedings and ruled that the social worker did not have to pay for the cost of the hearing.

Senior counsel Nigel Kat, representing Tse on a pro bono basis, told Coleman at a hearing on Monday that he had repeatedly pressed the department for a decision.