Calls for judicial review of HKTV case 'ironic', ex-top judge Andrew Li says

The former chief justice has weighed into the free-to-air TV licensing row, saying it is ironic some officials have urged a judicial review to deal with the issue.

Andrew Li Kwok-nang told a Hong Kong Bankers Club lunch the same officials had previously raised concerns that such court proceedings were being abused.

Li said the courts were not there to solve political, social or economic problems, and could only determine the limits of legality.

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has refused to disclose publicly the reasons behind the Executive Council's decision to issue only two new free-to-air TV licences, thereby denying flamboyant internet entrepreneur Ricky Wong Wai-kay's Hong Kong Television Network a licence.

However, he said last month: "The government made the decision according to the laws, policies and procedure. It will be the same regardless of any judicial review ... If there is one, the court will hear our arguments."

Before his appointment as chief executive, Leung said in 2011 that people who lodged judicial reviews of the government's infrastructure projects and used legal means to challenge its policies delayed administration and increased its workload.

Li said: "A lot of people have raised this question of abuse of judicial review proceedings. Perhaps it's ironic that in recent days there are some people in the executive branch and the district branch who have urged having a judicial review to deal with this TV licence question."