Committee meeting on dismissal of Supreme Court justices cancelled

The meeting of the Judiciary Committee scheduled for Tuesday which included the dismissal of two Supreme Court justices on agenda, was cancelled following unsuccessful attempts to hold the meeting.

JSC suspended three Supreme Court justices on February 26^th – Husnu Al-Suood, Dr. Azmiralda Zahir and Mahaz Ali Zahir – citing criminal investigations against them by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). Suood subsequently resigned on March 4^th as JSC investigated disciplinary cases against the three justices.

The Commission, on Sunday, said its Disciplinary Committee found both Azmiralda and Mahaz guilty of influencing Criminal Court judges and, as such, recommended their dismissal to the Parliament.

The matter was forwarded to the Judiciary Committee for review on Monday.

The committee meeting, which had the matter on its agenda, was initially scheduled for 11:00am. It was later postponed to 13:00pm, but was cancelled shortly before it was due to begin.

A Committee member who spoke to Sun said the meeting had to be cancelled as the Parliament has yet to receive some related documents from JSC.

In the letter submitted to the Parliament, JSC said it finds both Azmiralda and Mahaz guilty of influencing Criminal Court judges to release Azmiralda’s husband, Dr. Ismail Latheef, who was arrested last December.

Three out of the seven Supreme Court justices were suspended as the court reviewed a case challenging a contentious amendment to the Constitution that added anti-defection clauses. The controversial amendment added three more circumstances where parliamentarians will lose their seat, including if they are expelled from their political party.

On the same day the justices were suspended, a ruling PNC-dominated Parliament passed a contentious amendment to the Judicature Act to downsize the Supreme Court bench from seven to five justices. However, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has sent the bill back to Parliament for reconsideration. The Parliament has again sent the bill to Judiciary Committee for amendments despite calls from the opposition as well as from within PNC itself to reject the bill.

Both Azmiralda and Suood have accused President Muizzu of influencing the judiciary – an allegation denied by the President during a press conference on Saturday.