Supreme Court unveils reform roadmap, seeks more power

Supreme Court’s roadmap for judicial reform proposes more power for itself.

The roadmap was unveiled by Chief Justice Dr Ahmed Abdulla Didi at a special ceremony on Wednesday night.

Their roadmap proposes that the Judicial Service Commission be re-established after making changes to law, highlighting this as a high priority to guaranteeing the independence of the judiciary.

The roadmap also proposes new laws and amendments to introduce the necessary regulations currently absent in the Maldives judiciary.

The Supreme Court’s roadmap to guaranteeing the independence of judges is as follows:

Amending the Judicial Service Commission,

Amending the law,

Improving the method of appointing and dismissing judges,

Guaranteeing that the courthouse is free from corruption and influence,

Making improvements to summon judges without undermining their independence,

Introducing a better method for citizens to file complaints,

Establishing system to promote judges,

Improving the method of serving sentences,

Upgrading the judicial case management system,

Establishing superior courts in all cities,

Improving the Judicial Administration,

Establishing an e-filing system and introducing other technological solutions,

Guaranteeing the courthouse’s financial independence,

Improving the continued judicial and legal education and training systems,

Making in-service refresher training mandatory for judges each year,

Improving the judicial and legal education framework,

Improving the legal profession, and

Introducing an improved legal aid scheme and public defender’s office.

The roadmap also proposes to give the judiciary control of the budget to guarantee the independence of the courthouse and allocate a certain percentage of the state budget to the legal sector.

Those at the roadmap unveiling ceremony included parliament speaker Qasim Ibrahim, defense minister Mariya Didi, home minister Imran Abdulla, and attorney general Ibrahim Riffath.