Five senior police officers terminated from their posts goes to court

Five senior police officers who were terminated from their posts have filed a case regarding their termination with the Civil Court.

The Police Board decided to terminate seven senior police officers from their posts under the Police Service Act, which was ratified in December last year, took effect in March – back in August.

The seven senior officers terminated by the Police Board are:

• Superintendent Mohamed Dawood
• Assistant Commissioner Faruhadh Fikury
• Chief Superintendent Ahmed Shuhaadh
• Assistant Commissioner Mohamed Jamsheed
• Assistant Commissioner Ahmed Mohamed
• Superintendent Ismail Shameem
• Chief Superintendent Abdulla Shareef

Out of these seven officers – five officers are party to the submitted to the Civil Court. The officers which are not included in the claim are Faruhad Fikury and Ahmed Shuhaadh.

The five officers who filed cases are being represented by the law firm, Dhivehi Chambers. A statement released by the law firm today read that when the decision to terminate the officers was made – they were not given a chance to respond.

It was noted that the case was filed to seek remedy for the administrative and constitutional rights of the officers that have been violated.

The case has been accepted by the Civil Court – and a hearing has been scheduled for 10:00 in the morning, next Sunday.

People’s Majilis passed the Maldives Police Service Act (Law No. 34/2020) on December 6, 2020, and the President gave his ratification to the Act on December 27, 2020. Subsequently, the Police Board was constituted by the President as per the Act last April.

The Act, the Police Board confers the power to reappoint all officers above the rank of superintendents with the exception of the Commissioner of Police – if they are deemed unfit to continue serving on the force by the Board for abuse of power, infringement of the rights of someone else and corruption, or if a report has been made against them alleging such an action.

Decisions made by the Police Board must be enforced by the Commissioner of Police.