Court rejects legal challenges to co-location plan

Hong Kong’s High Court on Wednesday rejected all five legal challenges to the planned joint-checkpoint arrangement at the West Kowloon high-speed rail terminus, saying these were premature and not based on solid grounds.

This ended the first round of efforts by the opposition to stop the project by resorting to judicial reviews.

In a written judgment, Justice Anderson Chow Ka-ming took up the government’s stance on the case. He said it was apparently premature to accept judicial reviews as the government’s decision on the co-location arrangement is an “intermediate” one; it does not give rise to any “substantive determination touching on, or affecting, the rights or interests of the applicants”.

“A joint-immigration checkpoint is not a matter the SAR government can proceed with on its own, but is contingent on the decisions of bodies that are not under the control of the SAR government,” Chow added.

According to the government’s working procedure, the implementation of co-location in Hong Kong requires a “three-step process”. After the SAR government’s proposal, an agreement with the central government is needed, then approval by the nation’s top legislative body — the National People’s Conor gress Standing Committee, and then acceptance by the Legislative Council. These are also required in this order.

The judge refused to take any of the points made by the barrister representing the applicants — Senior Counsel Martin Lee Chu-ming. Chow called the application a “preenactment” challenge to the proposed local legislation.

He also rebutted Lee’s arguments that the early challenge aims to save public expenditure by closing the case before rail construction is completed. Chow wrote that matters of either public expenditure administrative expediency are political issues — which will not be decided by the court.

The government announced on July 25 that one-fourth of the West Kowloon Station would be designated as a Mainland Port Area with national laws applied; mainland law enforcement officers would carry out their duties there.

The co-location arrangement aims to speed up immigration process and maximize the efficiency of the highspeed rail. The arrangement is scheduled to coincide with the launch of the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link in the third quarter next year.