Key amendments proposed to JSC Act

A MDP parliamentarian has proposed major amendments to the Judicial Services Commission Act including pushing up the age criteria for JSC membership to 40 years, and banning JSC members from representing any clients at a court of law.

The amendments were proposed by Fonadhoo MP Moosa Siraj.

The first reading of the bill was held at the Parliament this Tuesday morning.

Article 5 of the JSC Act, which establishes the criteria for JSC membership, currently stipulates that a member must be at least 25 years of age. The Fonadhoo parliamentarian has proposed pushing up the minimum age limit to 40 years.

“An attorney-at-law elected under Article 3 and Article 10 of this Act, for as long as he/she remains a member of JSC, must not represent any client at a court of law in Maldives. And a member appointed under no. 5, no. 6, and no. 8 of Article 3 of this Act, if he/she is an attorney-at-law, then that person, for as long as he/she remains a member of JSC, must not represent any client at a court of law in Maldives,” reads the bill.

Several members of JSC, in the past years, have represented clients in court cases while remaining members of JSC. Something which came under intense public criticism.

Moosa Siraj’s bill also establishes procedure for dismissal of President or Vice President of JSC. It says that a President or Vice President may be dismissed if a motion for dismissal is prosed by minimum four JSC members, and if the motion is passed with the majority vote of JSC members during a meeting.

The bill also reads that a motion for dismissal of a President or Vice President must take precedence over all other commission work, and must be set in the agenda ahead of any other task.

“A no-confidence motion passed against the President or Vice President cannot be appealed at a court of law,” further stipulates the bill.

The current President of JSC is Supreme Court Justice Abdulla Areef.