Parliament committee approves bill granting privileges to ex-chief justice

A parliament committee has passed to amend the Judges Act, to grant privileges to former chief justice Mohamed Rasheed Ibrahim.

The amendment was proposed by Vilufushi constituency MP Riyaz Rasheed, during Wednesday’s sitting. 31 MPs voted in favour of the amendment, while 15 were against; it was then forwarded to an interim committee, for further review.

The committee members are; Vilufushi MP Riyaz, Fonadhoo constituency MP Abdul Raheem Abdulla, Dhangethi constituency MP Ilham Ahmed, Naifaru constituency MP Ahmed Shiyam and Inguraidhoo constituency MP Ibrahim Falaah.

At a meeting on Wednesday, the committee approved the amendment without any revisions and forwarded it to the parliament floor.

According to a report publicized by the parliament, the committee members spent a total of 10 minutes on deliberation.

Article 285 (a) of the Constitution states that “all Judges in office at the commencement of this Constitution except for the Chief Justice shall continue in office until such time as a determination pursuant to this Article.” While Rasheed was removed from power with the implementation of the new Constitution in 2008, MP Riyaz’s amendment notes that the general retirement “of all judges, as well as the forced retirement of former Chief justice as cases of honorable retirement from service, and determines allowances and privileges are owed to them by the State for their service.”

The amendment seeks to amend Article 285 (a) of the Constitution, so as to provide privileges to the chief justice that sat before enactment of the Constitution of the Republic of Maldives, in 2008.

While the amendment is being rushed through parliament, main ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MPs had spoken against it.

While the parliament's first session concludes on April 30, the next sitting of the outgoing 18th parliament is to be held on Monday. The new parliament will take oath of office on May 28.