Committee approves motion to remove Supreme Court justices
JSC made the decision to submit the motion to parliament, to remove Chief Justice Ahmed Abdulla Didi and Justice Adam Mohamed Abdulla, on Wednesday
(L to R) Justice Adam Mohamed Abdulla, Chief Justice Ahmed Abdulla Didi
A motion submitted to parliament, seeking to remove two Supreme Court justices, has been approved by its judiciary committee.
The People's Majlis accepted the motion to dismiss Chief Justice Dr. Ahmed Abdulla Didi and Justice Adam Mohamed Abdulla, on Thursday.
While Speaker, former President Mohamed Nasheed, has requested the committee to meet on Thursday and conclude its review by Monday, the committee has since met and approved the motion.
The judiciary committee's only task was to ensure that JSC's decision was in line with the laws and regulations, with all MPs in attendance at Thursday's committee meeting agreeing that it was. The MPs unanimously voted to approve the JSC report.
JSC made the decision to remove the two justices at a meeting on Wednesday, after completing investigations into disciplinary issues against the justices.
As such, the commission said that the investigation into the respective complaints against the justices showed that their actions were against the judges’ code of conduct, and against Article 154 (b) of the Constitution.
While Article 154 (b) allows judges to be removed through parliament if found to be guilty of gross misconduct, JSC made the decision to submit the motion to parliament under the powers granted to it through the JSC Act.
Judges can only be removed if two-thirds majority of the People’s Majlis members present and voting support the resolution.
JSC has also suspended the two justices for a 60-day period.
Chief Justice Didi had refused to accept a summon notice by JSC on Monday, saying that the commission has no legal basis to do so, while Justice Adam Mohamed refused to attend JSC’s investigative hearing on Tuesday claiming that the investigation against him is invalid.
In the statement released on Wednesday, JSC noted that two other justices at Supreme Court are also currently being investigated; they have been given the investigation report and time to send in their responses.
JSC had, on Tuesday, revealed that around 200 complaints had been submitted to the commission since the enactment of the second amendment of the JSC Act on September 3.
51 of the complaints are against four Supreme Court justices; 8 against the chief justice, 14 complaints against Justice Abdulla Areef, 16 complaints against Adam Mohamed Abdulla and three against Justice Abdul Ghanee Mohamed.
