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Limit of claims to be heard by Small Claims Tribunal
Following is a question by the Hon Bruce Liu Sing-lee and a written reply by the Chief Secretary, the Hon Anson Chan, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Question:
At present, the Small Claims Tribunal only has jurisdiction to hear claims which do not exceed the amount of $15,000, whereas the District Court is empowered to hear civil claims of up to a limit of $120,000. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a)
when the above-mentioned limits were set;
(b)
of the criteria adopted for determining these limits; and
(c)
whether these limits are subject to regular review, and whether consideration will be given to raising such limits?
Reply:
Mr President,
The answers to the questions are as follows -
(a)
The present financial limits of the civil jurisdiction of the Small Claims Tribunal and the District Court came into effect in 1988.
End
(b)
The criteria adopted for determining these financial limits include:
(1)
the effect of inflation:
(ii)
(c)
the costs that a litigant has to bear in relation to the amount of his claims; and
(iii) the public interest.
The financial limits are kept under review from time to time. The Judiciary is proposing to raise the limit from $120,000 to $300,000 for the District Court and from $15,000 to $30,000 for the Small Claims Tribunal. It is expected that these proposals will be placed before this Council before the summer recess.