The operator of a human ash repository has once more lost a linguistic argument that its facility is a shrine not a columbarium and therefore not subject to planning rules.
Throwing out the contention of The Shrine in Yuen Long, the Court of Appeal also ordered it to pay the government's costs in opposing the case.
Judges who made the ruling after hearing arguments for 20 minutes will give their written reasons later.
The second legal defeat in eight months for the operator, listed company Hong Kong Life Group, brought a call from activists for the government to step in and close the facility immediately. But it remained uncertain whether the firm would take its case to the Court of Final Appeal.
The company had argued that a shrine was different from a columbarium in that it involved an element of worship, although the functions overlapped because a shrine could also contain human ashes.
The group bought a group of buildings - some of them historical - in San Wai village and converted one for ash storage with 1,560 niches, about 200 of which have been sold and 14 occupied.
After the Planning Department took enforcement action it launched a judicial review saying that under current land use zoning, a shrine for worshipping is always a permissible use of village buildings, and does not require planning permission.