Mahaz, Dhiyana's SC appointment report sent back to Committee

The report by the Judiciary Committee of the Parliament regarding the appointment of Mahaz and Dhiyana to the Supreme Court has been resent to the Committee by the Parliament.

The Committee sent the report on the appointments of former Drug Court judge Mahaz Ali Zahir and former Attorney General Dhiyana Saeedh to the Parliament after President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih nominated their names for the vacant seat on the Supreme Court bench.

Speaker of the Parliament, Mohamed Nasheed stated in today’s parliamentary session that the Judiciary Committee had not stated its view regarding the matter in the report.

“A decision (recommendation) has not been reached in this report, as I can see. It states that the Judicial Services Commission carried out their duties accordingly,” said Speaker Nasheed.

The report was sent back to the Committee to make a recommendation regarding the appointments to the Supreme Court bench.

“I am hoping not to present this report to the Parliament just yet and I intend to send the report back, to carry out further work regarding the committee’s judgment on the matter,” said Nasheed during today’s parliamentary session.

The two candidates were “highly recommended” by the Judicial Service Commission to the President after interviews with applicants for the post. Votes will be held in the Parliament for all the applicants that fulfilled the requirements and were interviewed by the JSC for the post.

Three High Court judges Ali Sameer, Mohamed Niyaz and Ali Shuaib Hassan Zakariyya had also applied for the Supreme Court seat.

The seat on the Supreme Court was left vacant after the Parliament passed to dismiss judge Abdulla Didi from the post after being found guilty of a disciplinary issue. An appointment to the Supreme Court can only be made after being presented to the Parliament and gaining the approval of the Parliament.