Parliament passes legislature to increase Supreme Court justices to 7

The Parliament has passed the legislative amendment designed to increase the number of Supreme Court justices from five to seven.

The bill was passed with the vote of 73 parliamentarians this Wednesday afternoon.

The bill was submitted on behalf of the Maldivian administration by Central Henveyru MP Ali Azim.

It was sent to the Judicial Committee of the Parliament for evaluation on Monday, July 8. The committee, during the evaluation process, voted against any revisions to the bill and forwarded it to the parliamentary vote on Monday, July 15.

The Courts Act – enacted in 2010 – originally established the number of Supreme Court justices as seven – made up of the Chief Justice and six additional justices who must be appointed to the court.

An amendment to the Courts Act in late 2014 cut down the number of Supreme Court justices to five.

The bill passed by the Parliament this Wednesday will annul the 2014 amendment.

The change will come into effect the moment it is enacted into a law - has now been forwarded to the Judicial Committee of the Parliament for evaluation.