Judge says compensation should not have been given, but residents entitled to

Former residents of the Nationalist stronghold Rennie's Mill were not entitled to compensation from the Government for the loss of their village, a court ruled yesterday, although $500 million has been paid out and cannot be recovered.

The Court of Appeal held that a judge's decision in 1996, which paved the way for the payments, and the compensation scheme he developed were 'misconceived'.

But as the Government had not challenged the judgment or subsequent decisions setting the amounts to be paid, the 674 recipients of compensation will keep the money.

'They were fortunate in that, although the judge's order was plainly wrong, the Hong Kong Housing Authority, no doubt for administrative and political reasons and mindful of the fact that it was the taxpayer who would foot the bill anyway, chose not to appeal against it,' Mr Justice Gerald Godfrey said.

'The judges and the administration would do well to remember that it is for the executive to run the country, not the judges, whose powers, valuable and important as they are, are limited to powers of review.

'What, if anything, ought to have been done for the residents of Rennie's Mill was, and is, a matter for the administration, not the courts.' Claims by 63 villagers who had been ruled ineligible for compensation and 23 who wanted higher payments were dismissed by Mr Justice Godfrey, Mr Justice Simon Mayo and Mr Justice Anthony Rogers.

But the Government was told it must pay its own legal costs for the appeal because of its failure to challenge the 1996 ruling.