Judge Ahmed Hailam has been appointed as Criminal Court's chief judge on Monday.

The decision to appoint Hailam, who was appointed as a judge to the Criminal Court in January, as the chief judge was made after a secret vote held taken by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).

Judge Adam Arif had been tasked with heading the court since July last year up until the appointment of Hailam as the chief judge.

Two other appointments have been made after the JSC's secret vote. They are for Judge Abdul Sattar Abdul Hameed as chief judge of the Drug Court and Judge Saeed Ibrahim as chief judge of the Juvenile Court.

The JSC has not revealed further details about the secret vote.