I refer to your editorial of September 30 headlined, 'Aid for justice', commenting on our legal aid refusal in Mohinder Kaur's case and in relation to the judicial review proceedings involving some 5,800 migrants.
As you may be aware, there were times when our decisions in granting legal aid were criticised as being too liberal. In this instance, we have been characterised in your editorial as being too restrictive.
Whatever may be the public perception of our decisions, the fact of the matter is that our decisions are always made after a careful examination of the facts and issues of the cases.
I do not suggest for one moment that our decisions are impeccable. If we are wrong, our decisions can always be corrected by the Registrar of the High Court upon an appeal against our decisions, or by a judge upon a judicial review of our decisions.
In this case, Mohinder Kaur did appeal against our refusal, but her appeal was dismissed by the Registrar of the High Court on July 23.
Your editorial seems to suggest that where a case has been ruled arguable the applicant should automatically be entitled to legal aid. That cannot be right and there is no provision to that effect in our ordinance. There is a legal precedent to show that we are entitled to consider the future prospects of the ultimate outcome of the substantive application. There is also a legal precedent indicating that for a case to be merely arguable is not enough to satisfy the legal merits test for the granting of legal aid.
In your report of September 30 headlined, ' 'Tension' shows in legal aid refusal', the judge in Mohinder Kaur's case was quoted as saying that there could be no realistic hearing without a lawyer to represent the woman. That may well be true, but it does not follow that the gap must be filled by legal aid or the omission supplied by public funds. In England, it was in recognition that in the real world gaps in provision do and will always occur leaving people who cannot afford a lawyer without assistance, that a Pro Bono Unit was set up by the Bar in 1995.