Less than a month after the Attorney General's (AG) office was separated from the civil service and changes were brought to rules through a revised law, the government has proposed additional changes.
The law was ratified on May 29. The new amendment bill was proposed by ruling party MP Ali Fazad with 14 changes. These include changes that remove some of the powers of the AG and give the President influence over the office.
The AG's power to determine the structure of the posts of the office has been restricted and the structure of the office must be submitted to the President's Office and approved by the President. The bill also proposes to remove the provision empowering the AG to decide and resolve disputes between two government agencies.
The bill, which began its first reading and preliminary debate in parliament today, also includes amendments to the categories of employees of the office. Employees previously classified under administrative services will be converted to legal support services.
Opposition MPs directed criticism as the government wants to amend a law which came into ratification recently. The law was also proposed by the government and changed as the government wished.
The main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said this shows the government's lack of planning.
The AG office act has been ratified but has not yet come into force. It is planned to come into force 90 days from the date of its ratification.
Previously, the AG office was run under the Civil Service. This created obstacles to paying the office's lawyers a salary close to the average income of lawyers in the country. The main objective of the law was to eliminate these difficulties.
