Justice Ali Hameed suspended

Department of Judicial Administration (DJA) has suspended Supreme Court Justice Ali Hameed.

Justice Ali Hameed was suspended following a meeting of the DJA on Wednesday.

Ali Hameed, who had served as head of DJA previously, was arrested on Monday night. He is presently in Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) after he was taken ill following his arrest.

Chief Justice Abdullah Saeed and Justice Ali Hameed were arrested after the Government declared State of Emergency, following allegations that he had gained flats. President Abdullah Yameen had questioned how the two had managed to acquire the funds to purchase those flats.

Their arrests and State of Emergency was declared after the Supreme Court ruled to free opposition leaders and to review their cases. The Supreme Court ruling issued a week back, also ruled that the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) had no authority to review any cases on any member of the Supreme Court bench.

Following the arrest of the two Justices, the other three Justices remaining on the bench had ruled to nullify the ruling issued on February 1, 2018.

Clause 154 of the Constitution says that if a Judge is found to have breached his conduct by JSC, then his case must be put to the Parliament, where two-thirds of the MPs present must vote to oust the said Judge.