A Hong Kong court on Thursday finalized its decision to order a private columbarium in Sha Tin to remove all the ashes there. Subsequently, this will put individuals entrusted to the remains of their loved ones in limbo.
According to South China Morning Post, Deputy High Court judge Marlene Ng May-ling ruled that Memorial Park Hong Kong, which is located in Fo Tan Village, must facilitate refunds to clients who had bought some of the 3,300 niches at the columbarium since 2008, two years before it started operating. The columbarium, however, has not revealed how many niches are involved exactly.
The legal battle was courtesy of Memorial Park Hong Kong Limited in 2010. It was meant against the secretary for justice in a bid to clarify whether ashes counted as "human remains" mentioned in a government land lease condition that bars it - and many other columbariums - from operating.
A company spokesman of the defeated side said that the firm had already applied for a permit under the umbrella of the Private Columbaria Ordinance. The latter came into force on June 30 last year. It provides the much-needed licensing of all non-government columbariums for keeping cremated remains.
He added the lawsuit was instigated eight years ago, considering that such a scheme had not existed. "We have applied for it [the permit] in accordance with the procedures," he said. But the spokesman said the firm would try to appeal the judgment and apply for the order to be set aside temporarily, Hong Kong Informer reports.
The court case revolved around the general conditions signed between the company and the government. This was particularly when the former bought the site in the 1940s.
One condition suggests that without the consent of the district offer which is deemed a designated official, the company will not have the authority to deposit human remains at the New Territories site.
During the court hearing, the firm's lawyers argued that ashes, which the columbarium houses, were different from "human remains" found in graves, for instance.
During the judgment on Thursday, Ng ruled that the Court of Appeal in 2014 had already settled the issue. She added the case as somewhat directly concerned Hong Dao Tang, which is another private columbarium in Kwai Chung.
Furthermore, Ng ruled ashes would be within the meaning of human remains, and also rejected the company's other argument that is to be allowed to continue its business because of the government's lax attitude on private columbariums in the past two decades.
