A NEW appeal channel for tenants affected by Land Development Corporation redevelopments has been condemned as ''window-dressing''. Tenants who attended one of the first appeal hearings yesterday also accused the adjudicators of lacking the sincerity to listen. The 13-member appeal committee was formed by the corporation following repeated complaints that it was suppressing tenants in compensation negotiations. A panel of three members - all independent professionals - sits at each appeal case. The committee organised the first sitting at the corporation headquarters in Wan Chai yesterday to hear appeals by two households which had refused to accept rehousing terms. Mongkok tenants Mrs Tang Cheng So and her husband, Mr Tang Tong, attended the hour-long hearing. ''The members were useless - they just tried to persuade us to accept the rehousing terms,'' Mrs Tang said. ''I did not believe they could help us at all. They were wasting our time.'' She also claimed they were not allowed a fair hearing. ''The corporation did not allow our social worker to represent us,'' she said. ''We are not educated and we do not know how to deal with the officials. It is not fair to us.'' They will be told of the panel's decision in a few weeks. Corporation spokesman and the appeal committee secretary, Mr Kenneth Yeung Ka-wah, said the panel members were independent professionals and there was no question of prejudicial judgement. Meanwhile, six Shamshuipo households affected by redevelopment and facing eviction were given an 11th-hour reprieve yesterday when developers agreed to extend their removal deadline by a week. The tenants of Resource Mansion in Nam Cheong Street said they needed more time to apply to the Housing Department for temporary accommodation.
