Pres. Muizzu’s vision to reform judiciary: Reinstate Judicial Council comprising of judges

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu, on Monday, announced plans to amend existing legislation to reconstitute the Judicial Council, proposing a body comprising the Chief Justice alongside judges from the Supreme Court, High Court, and other superior courts.

The Judicial Council was originally established under the Judicature Act, which came into force in 2010. Its mandate included formulating uniform court regulations, ensuring consistent standards across the judiciary, and providing a consultative forum for judicial administration.

At its inception, the Council consisted of the Chief Justice, a justice of the Supreme Court, the Chief Judge of the High Court, chief judges of lower courts, and magistrates representing both northern and southern regions. However, the Supreme Court subsequently nullified the provisions relating to the Council shortly after it was formed.

Responding to a question during Monday’s press conference, President Muizzu noted that under former president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s administration, the Parliament amended the Judicial Service Commission  Act in 2019, placing the Department of Judicial Administration (DJA) under the oversight of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).

The President argued that this arrangement has enabled indirect influence over the judiciary. He stated that his administration intends to remove the JSC’s control over the DJA and restore the judiciary’s original administrative framework.

“Bringing about the necessary legal changes to reinstate the Judicial Council, and ensuring the DJA is accountable to the Chief Justice and the Judicial Council—where the Chief Judicial Administrator answers directly to them—is, in my view, a vital reform for the court system,” he said.

President Muizzu further asserted that reforms introduced by the previous administration had concentrated excessive authority in administrative heads within Magistrate Courts, which he believes has adversely affected judicial operations.

While reforming the JSC and strengthening its independence has been pledged by both the former Maldivian Democratic Party administration and the current government, the President noted that the 19th Parliament—then dominated by the MDP—rejected legislative proposals submitted by then-opposition Progressive Party of Maldives/People’s National Congress coalition aimed at reforming the commission on three separate occasions.

Although President Muizzu has indicated that a bill to reform the JSC will be submitted to the current 20th Parliament, where the government holds a supermajority, no such amendment has yet been formally introduced.