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Written by: Zhu Dixin
2021-06-28 19:07
Last update date: 2021-06-28 19:08
Lin Jiafen, Assistant Director of the Lands Department, was involved in a land hoarding storm in 2014 and was revealed to have purchased farmland under her management with her husband.
Lin and her husband applied for judicial review at the beginning of this year, saying that they had applied to build a village house in the area as early as 2012, but the Lands Department had not approved his application for a long time due to political reasons.
The Lands Department subsequently approved their application, but with a number of conditions, including that the village house cannot be used as a cemetery or columbarium.
Lin and her husband claimed that some of the conditions were unreasonable or ultra vires, and they applied for judicial review last Friday (25th) to overturn the decision of the department and ask the department to reconsider.
Applicants Deng Chaowen and Lin Jiafen, the respondent, the Director of Lands Administration.
The application for building a house has not been approved for 8 years
The applicant stated in the application that they purchased the Yuen Long farmland involved in the case in 2012 and applied to the Department in October of the same year to convert the farmland buildings into four village houses. The Town Planning Board approved the application in 2014.
However, Ming Pao reported in August 2014 that Lin could make a profit of 50 million yuan by purchasing land through inside information.
Although these allegations were not established after internal investigations by the ICAC and the government, it took nearly 8 years for the applicant to apply and it has not been approved, while similar applications only take 8 months.
At the beginning of the year, the review was finally approved but with 38 conditions
The applicant then applied for a judicial review in January this year. The Department approved the application the following month, but listed 38 conditions. The applicant replied against these conditions. The Department finally responded in May to reduce these conditions. To 33 items.
Think 22 conditions are ultra vires
However, the applicant believes that 22 of the conditions are ultra vires, unreasonable and violate the Basic Law.
If the department requires the applicant to build a village house, the covered area shall not exceed the requirement of the department.
The applicant stated that this condition caused great difficulties for the applicant's construction and was unreasonable.
Including not being used as a cemetery or columbarium
In addition, the conditions of the Department include that the village houses to be built cannot be used as cemeteries or columbariums.
The applicant pointed out that the Block Crown Lease does not have such restrictions, and the Department’s request is to deprive the applicant of the rights under the Block Crown Lease, which is an abuse of power.
The applicant emphasized that, as the owner of the land, his property rights are protected by the Basic Law, but the agency’s approach is to infringe his rights.
Case number: HCAL68/2021
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Judicial Review Court of Lands Department