Supreme Court abolishes Article 53 of the Civil Service Act 2007

The Supreme Court of the Maldives has today supported a previous decision of the High Court of the Maldives which abolished Article 53 of the Civil Service Act 2007. Four out of the five sitting Justices agreed that the High Court had rightly considered Article 53 of the Civil Services Act to be unconstitutional.

The Article in question had prohibited any civil servant from engaging in any kind of political activism in any way.

Mohamed Haanim, formerly an employee of the Ministry of Youth, was dismissed from his employment after he had participated in the political activities of the main opposition Divehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), and he brought the action, claiming that Article 53 of the Civil Service Act was against the Constitution.

In its decision, the Supreme Court has stated that Article 30 of the Constitution gives every citizen the unqualified and absolute right to participate in political activities, form political parties and run them, and that Article 53 of the Civil Service Act clearly violated the constitutional provision and denied a fundamental right given to the citizens by the Constitution.