Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer has decided not to attend parliament to present the state budget on Tuesday, the deadline in the law for proposing the budget.
President's Office Spokesman Miuvan Mohamed told Adhadhu that the minister's decision was based on advice from the Attorney General.
No other work could proceed at parliament before concluding an impeachment motion filed to remove the Speaker, Attorney General Ibrahim Riffath advised.
Article 32 of the public finance law states the annual budget must be submitted to parliament two months before the start of the year, which makes today the final date to comply with the legal provision.
After the notice period expired for the no-confidence motion filed by the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) to remove Speaker Mohamed Nasheed from his post, the sitting for the impeachment vote was due to take place last Sunday.
But Parliament's Secretary General Fathmath Niusha decided not to hold the sitting with Deputy Speaker Eva Abdulla on sick leave.
In her decision, Niusha referred to section 205(b) of parliament's rules.
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Following the decision that only the Deputy Speaker could preside, the MDP petitioned the Supreme Court to declare that the cancelation of the sitting contravened parliament's rules as well as article 82(c) of the constitution.
The Supreme Court accepted the case on Monday. But a hearing has not been scheduled yet.
In its constitutional case, MDP sought an order to declare that the sitting could be held under section 44 and that the decision to call off the sitting was in violation of the rules.
Section 44 of the rules states that if the Speaker recuses himself from presiding over a sitting, the Speaker must assign an MP to preside in his place.
The party also asked the court to declare that the impeachment motion must be concluded before any other work could be done in parliament, which is stated in section 205 of the standing orders.
As today's sitting began with Vilufushi MP Hassan Afeef presiding in the place of Deputy Speaker Eva Abdulla, MDP MPs protested in the chamber, insisting that the sitting could not proceed without Nasheed's impeachment motion.
A video posted on X by Addu Meedhoo MP Rozaina Adam showed MDP MPs gather near the Speaker's desk, raise their voices and obstruct proceedings.
After postponing Nasheed's impeachment motion for Wednesday's sitting, the agenda for today's sitting included next year's budget and a supplementary budget for this year.
On Monday, the MDP parliamentary group wrote to the Parliament Secretariat requesting changes to the agenda for today's sitting.
In the letter addressed to Secretary General Niusha, MDP parliamentary group leader Mohamed Aslam said the standing orders require the impeachment motion to be concluded after the notice period expires.
However, as the motion was not in the agenda in accordance with the rules, the MDP asked the Secretary General to explain the decision.
Parliament's Communications Director Hassan Ziyau said yesterday that the impeachment motion was not placed in the agenda because Deputy Speaker Eva remained on sick leave.
