The parliament committee has concluded work on an amendment bill to reduce the size of the Supreme Court by removing two justices in just an hour.
The Judiciary Committee passed the bill without any changes with the votes of eight MPs. Two opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MPs voted against while ruling People's National Congress (PNC) MP Anara Naeem did not participate in the vote.
The amendment bill to change the composition of the Supreme Court bench from seven members to five members was proposed by Holhudhoo MP Abdul Sattar Mohamed on behalf of the government.
It was proposed to the parliament on Sunday night and accepted for deliberations on Monday afternoon.
The majority of ruling party MPs spoke against the bill at a parliamentary group meeting on Monday. Despite their views against it, the PNC leadership informed MPs to support the bill.
According to the bill, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) should determine the two judges to be removed from the court and send their names to parliament within five days of the law coming into force.
The People's Majlis must decide on the removal of the judges within seven days. Judges can be removed by a two-thirds majority of the parliament.
The bill was proposed amid a constitutional case on MP disqualification. In November last year, a subsection (e) was added to Article 73 of the Constitution, specifying new conditions for the removal of MPs.
With the new amendment, MPs will lose their seat if they defect from the political party under whose ticket they were elected, join a political party after being elected as an independent candidate, or voluntarily leave or are expelled from their political party while in office.
Former Kendhoo MP Ali Hussain petitioned the Supreme Court to quash the change. On February 18, the Supreme Court decided to accept it and gave the Attorney General's (AG) Office 10 days to respond.
