Civil Court’s ruling on wrongful dismissal of five senior police officers to be appealed

The state has decided to appeal Civil Court’s decision ruling which concluded that the Police Board dismissed five senior officers wrongfully.

The Police Board decided to terminate seven senior police officers from their posts back in August 2021 under the Police Service Act, which was ratified in December 2020, and took effect in March 2021.

The seven senior officers terminated by the Police Board were:

• Superintendent Mohamed Dawood
• Assistant Commissioner Faruhadh Fikury
• Chief Superintendent Ahmed Shuhaadh
• Assistant Commissioner Mohamed Jamsheed
• Assistant Commissioner Ahmed Mohamed
• Superintendent Ismail Shameem
• Chief Superintendent Abdulla Shareef

Five of the officers submitted a Civil Court case alleging wrongful dismissal. The two officers who were not a part of the lawsuit are Faruhadh Fikury and Ahmed Shuhaadh.

The judgment delivered in the case by the Civil Court on Wednesday following a series of closed hearings read that the texts of the law clearly indicated that the Police Board did not have the authority to dismiss the five officers.

Judge Ali Abdulla, in the judgment, said that the notice issued to some officers was in violation of Article 3 (c) of the Police Act, therewith, deeming it void.

Attorney General’s Office (AG Office), on Thursday, revealed their intention to appeal Civil Court’s decision to the High Court citing that the Police Act was not interpreted correctly.

People’s Majilis passed the Maldives Police Service Act (Law No. 34/2020) on December 6, 2020, and the President gave his ratification to the Act on December 27, 2020. Subsequently, the Police Board was constituted by the President as per the Act in April 2021.

The Act confers Police Board the power to reappoint all officers above the rank of superintendents with the exception of the Commissioner of Police – if they are deemed unfit to continue serving on the force by the Board for abuse of power, infringement of the rights of someone else and corruption, or if a report has been made against them alleging such an action.

Decisions made by the Police Board must be enforced by the Commissioner of Police.