The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has decided to appoint Justice Abdulla Areef as the interim head of the Supreme Court.

This comes after its decision to issue a 60-day suspension to Chief Justice Ahmed Abdulla Didi, and submit a resolution to remove him and Justice Adam Mohamed to the People’s Majlis.

Justice Areef resigned as the president of the Judicial Service Commission earlier on Wednesday, and MP Hisaan Hussain has since replaced him.

Justice Areef has been on the Supreme Court bench since 2008, he had served as the chief judge at the Criminal Court from 2005 to 2008. Prior to that, Areef had been a judge at the criminal court, since 1998, and is the longest serving justice in the Supreme Court bench.

As per JSC’s current regulation, priority in appointing a chief justice is given to the longest serving justice.