Three-dimensional potential energy and dipole moment surfaces of the Cl--H-2 system are calculated ab initio by means of a coupled cluster method with single and double excitations and noniterative correction to triple excitations with augmented correlation consistent quadruple-zeta basis set supplemented with bond functions, and represented in analytical forms. Variational calculations of the energy levels up to the total angular momentum J=25 provide accurate estimations of the measured rotational spectroscopic constants of the ground van der Waals levels n=0 of the Cl-...H-2/D-2 complexes although they underestimate the red shifts of the mid-infrared spectra with v=0-->v=1 vibrational excitation of the monomer. They also attest to the accuracy of effective radial interaction potentials extracted previously from experimental data using the rotational RKR procedure. Vibrational predissociation of the Cl-...H-2/D-2(v=1) complexes is shown to follow near-resonant vibrational-to-rotational energy transfer mechanism so that more than 97% of the product monomers are formed in the highest accessible rotational level. This mechanism explains the strong variation of the predissociation rate with isotopic content and nuclear spin form of the complex. Strong deviation of the observed relative abundances of ortho and para forms of the complexes from those of the monomers is qualitatively explained by the secondary ligand exchange reactions in the ionic beam, within the simple thermal equilibrium model. Positions and intensities of the hot v=0, n=1-->v=1, n=1 and combination v=0, n=0-->v=1, n=1 bands are predicted, and implications to the photoelectron spectroscopy of the complex are briefly discussed. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.