First hearing held in case against Majlis' decision to reduce salaries

The first hearing over the parliament’s decision to reduce the salaries of the president, vice president and members of independent institutions was held at the Supreme Court on Thursday.

The constitutional case filed by Civil Court’s former judge Mohamed Haleem back in June, claims that the parliament’s decision is “unlawful”.

The salary cuts are part of government’s plans to reduce state expenditure amid the Covid-19 pandemic which has affected the country’s economy immensely.

While Haleem’s case against parliament highlights that there are laws and regulations on the salaries of president, vice president and members of independent institutions, as well as that some of these regulations note that changes cannot be brought to salaries during their terms, Chair of parliament’s public accounts committee and Kinbidhoo constituency MP Mohamed Nashiz said that they had decided against changing the laws ‘as this is a temporary deduction’.

Parliament’s Counselor General Fathmath Filza is to have recommended it.

MP Nashiz had said that the salary deductions of the president and vice president were included in the request submitted by the finance minister, and stressed that an amendment is not required ‘if the president does not have any objections.’

He also noted that the finance minister has to submit a motion through a parliamentarian, in order to change a law.

At Thursday’s hearing, the court questioned the plaintiff on whether he had questioned all relevant persons prior to submitting case, including parliamentarians and those he claim will be directly affected by the decision as well as how it is related to national interest.

Responding to this, Haleem said that the president, Vice President and officials of independent institutions are affected by the decision and that this is “connected to national and public interest”.

However, Haleem said that he had not made any attempts to question those mentioned.

The court is expected to issue a verdict in the case, next.

As per the Maldivian Constitution, the parliament is to declare the salary and benefits of the president and VP. Majlis in 2009 passed the ‘Emoluments and Benefits of the President and Vice President Law’ which states that the salary of the president is MVR 100,000 while the VP’s is MVR 75,000.

Following the three-month 35 percent reduction approved by the parliament, President Solih’s salary has been reduced to MVR 65,000 and Vice President Faisal Naseem’s to MVR 48,750.