Removal of judges

The Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA), the Commonwealth Legal Education Association (CLEA), and the Commonwealth Magistrates’ and Judges’ Association (CMJA) have said in a joint statement issued yesterday, that the adoption of the Amendment to the Judicature Act, and the subsequent removal of Chief Justice Ahmed Faiz and Judge Muthasim Adnan, constitute a clear breach of the Commonwealth Principles.

The associations said that the removal of the two senior judges is a breach of The Commonwealth (Latimer House) Principles on the Accountability of and the Relationship between the Three Branches of Government (2003), and as a result, the independence of the judiciary and the Rule of Law have been severely jeopardised in the Maldives.

The Principles state that “Judges should be subject to suspension or removal only for reasons of incapacity or misbehaviour that clearly renders them unfit to discharge their duties”.

The group also highlighted that the move is contrary to Article 154 of the Maldives Constitution, which states, “A Judge may be removed from office only if the Judicial Service Commission finds that the person is grossly incompetent, or that the Judge is guilty of gross misconduct, and submits to the People’s Majlis a resolution supporting the removal of the Judge, which is passed by a two thirds majority of the members of the People’s Majlis present and voting.”

The associations urged the government and parliament of the Maldives to respect the independence of the judiciary and to comply with the relevant constitutional provisions, Commonwealth Principles, and other relevant international standards.

Ahmed Faiz and Muthasim Adnan were removed from their posts as Supreme Court judges after the parliament passed an Amendment to the Judicature Act, to reduce the number of Supreme Court Judges from seven to five. The decision regarding which judges to remove was made by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), which was subsequently passed by the parliament.