‘AG advised against ratifying bill to downsize SC bench due to surrounding concerns’

Attorney General’s Office (AGO) states Attorney General Ahmed Usham advised against ratifying the bill to amend the Judicature Act aimed at downsizing the Supreme Court bench as the process to dismiss incumbent judges under the amendment is unjust, prompting concerns.

The amendment to the Judicature Act was sponsored by Holhudhoo MP Abdul Sattar Mohamed. The bill was presented, debated on and accepted into the Parliament on February 25, and the Judiciary Committee passed it without any changes in a meeting held shortly after the vote. The amendment was passed on February 26 with a majority vote of 68-9.

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu, at the advice of the Attorney General, sent back the bill to the Parliament on Tuesday night for reconsideration.

If the bill had been ratified, it would require the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to determine two justices to be incompetent and submit their names to the Parliament within five days the legislature takes effect. And the Parliament is required to make a decision regarding their removal within seven days.

In his opinion, Attorney General Usham said he does not believe it would be ethical to determine two justices are incompetent if they have not violated the laws and disciplinary standards pertaining to judges.

However, at present, two Supreme Court justices – Dr. Azmiralda Zahir and Mahaz Ali Zahir – are on suspension as JSC reviews disciplinary cases against them.

Referring to this, Usham further said that Parliament deciding these two justices are incompetent before the investigation into their cases is completed would amount to a violation of judicial policies.

Usham further stressed that the process outlined in the amendment to dismiss incumbent judges, if the bill is ratified, is extremely unjust.

Notably, Parliament’s Secretary General Fathimath Filza had raised concern over the bill when it had been in the committee staged at the Parliament. Her concerns also pertained to the fact that the Supreme Court bench under the amendment can only be downsized by dismissing two incumbent judges.

The Constitution dictates two circumstances under which no-confidence motions can be filed against judges with the Parliament. They are:

• If a judge is believed to be incompetent
• If JSC finds the judge guilty of misconduct

Filza emphasized that the ratification of the bill would create a situation where justices that have not been deemed incompetent would need to be deemed incompetent.

The move to downsize the Supreme Court's bench followed weekslong allegations by opposition MDP that the government was seeking to dismiss some of the members of the top court’s bench to influence a case challenging a contentious amendment to add anti-defection provisions to the Constitution.

The constitutional amendment in question was submitted, passed and ratified in quick succession on November 20. The controversial amendment added three more circumstances where parliamentarians will lose their seat, including if they are expelled from their political party.

The rushed passage of the bill to amend the Judicature Act had come less than one hour ahead of a hearing scheduled at the Supreme Court regarding a request for an injunction to suspend the enforcement of the anti-defection clauses.

But shortly before the hearing had been set to begin at 11:00am, JSC announced that three Supreme Court justices – Husnu Al-Suood, Azmiralda and Mahaz  – had been suspended in light of criminal investigations against them by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). Suood subsequently resigned last Tuesday after raising serious allegations of government intimidation.

In this regard, Suood said the Supreme Court had faced numerous pressures from the administration ever since the court established it had jurisdiction to hear a case challenging the contentious amendment to add anti-defection provisions to the Constitution.

Azmiralda has also accused the government of attempting to exert influence on her by leveraging the case against her husband, Dr. Ismail Latheef, who was arrested back in last December. She and Mahaz are being investigated by JSC for allegedly attempting to influence Criminal Court to release Latheef.