Senior civil servants won the right yesterday to bring their battle for political power to the Supreme Court.
Mr Justice Raymond Sears granted the senior officers leave to fight a government decision barring them from serving on the Selection Committee for the First Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
The case raises important political and constitutional issues and will affect the first post-1997 government, the judge said.
Lawyer Gerard McCoy said the ban disenfranchised the 'talent of the civil service' and violated the Bill of Rights. Mr McCoy represents the Senior Non-expatriate Officers Association and its applicants Leung Chi-chiu, Ching Kam-cheong and Martin Cheung Kin-keung.
The officers are among the 1,200 directorate-grade officers who, unlike the other 95 per cent of government workers, are not allowed to serve on the Selection Committee.
'The classification is dependent solely on income,' Mr McCoy told the court. 'Nothing else distinguishes them.' To qualify as a directorate officer, a civil servant must earn a minimum of $86,650 a month.
Mr McCoy described the applicants as 'distinguished people in themselves, but hardly a threat to the political safety of Hong Kong'.
