The parole application of Chris Hani's murderer, Clive Derby-Lewis, was dismissed in the North Gauteng High Court on Tuesday.

Handing down judgment in less than a minute, Deputy Judge President Jerry Shongwe said it was the unanimous decision of a full bench that Derby-Lewis' application be dismissed with costs for all five respondents' legal teams.

Derby-Lewis, 73, had served 15 years of a life sentence, after his death sentence was reduced to life imprisonment when the death penalty was abolished.

The parole board made recommendations in November 2007 that he was eligible for parole.

In a written judgment, the bench said the court was not in a position, as respondents had argued, to place an applicant on parole.

"It is common cause that we do not have the record of proceedings of the [parole] board."

It also ruled in favour of the Hani family - the fifth respondent in the matter - that they had the right to make recommendations, and this opportunity had not been afforded to them.

"One cannot argue... that the fifth respondent's representations will be of a political nature and nothing else.

"Any person, including the applicant, may put relevant information before a board. It is the duty of that board to weigh and consider all information placed before it," the judges ruled.

The records of the board and the Hani family's submissions, among others, were not made available to the court, so it therefore could not rule on Derby-Lewis's parole.

The judges further ruled that Derby-Lewis's application to the court was premature.

"It is clear from the papers that the applicant fears that the minister [of correctional services] will arbitrarily refuse his placement on parole.

"If this is to happen, it may be proper cause to apply for a review of the minister's decision."

Speaking outside the Pretoria court, Derby-Lewis's attorney Marius Coertze said he was disappointed with the ruling.

"I am shocked and extremely disappointed. I really, really expected a much more positive outcome."

Coertze said he did not understand why the application had been dismissed but he would study the ruling and then consider if an appeal was on the cards.

"The worst of all is I now have to go back to my client and to tell him the bad news. It is going to be tough."

He said the judgment on costs was "huge".

"I would imagine it rounds into more than R1-million in legal costs and Clive will have to pay it. So I think they must deduct it from his food allowance or something, R5 a month," he said chuckling incredulously.

Referring to the recent medical parole of convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik, he said it was a tragedy.

"My feelings are under [that] this current political dispensation there's no administrative justice for especially Afrikaner people like Clive Derby-Lewis.

"If you look at the Schabir Shaik case, it's a travesty of justice that Shaik can get parole offered to him on a silver platter and a person like Clive Derby-Lewis has to fight tooth and nail and still fails," he said.

Shaik was released on medical parole over two weeks ago after serving less than three years of his sentence.

Derby-Lewis and his accomplice, Janusz Walus, were sentenced to death for the murder of Hani, the SA Communist Party leader, in 1993.

Walus remained in Pretoria's C-Max prison and did not, as yet, qualify for a parole application.

Derby-Lewis and Hani's wife Limpho were not in court.