A JUDGE has ruled two companies owning land adjacent to ground over which new power lines are to pass are not entitled to compensation.
Judge Cruden said yesterday more than 100 landowners had originally filed applications for compensation over the proposed Black Point Power Transmission System.
But they were entitled to compensation only if their land was within the boundaries of a 'statutory easement' - a 25-metre corridor stretching along the area where the power lines would pass, he said.
Judge Cruden, presiding officer of the Lands Tribunal, said the issue had become a matter of public controversy.
But this was the situation existing under the law, he said, and landowners would have to persuade the Government to change the law if they wanted compensation.
'It is not a matter for this tribunal but for the executive and legislature,' Judge Cruden said.
The firms, Yicon Limited and Gain Million Development Limited, both own land in Yuen Long.