President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, on Thursday, forwarded the names of former High Court Judge Dr Azmiralda Zahir and former Civil Court Judge Aisha Shujoon Mohamed to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) for consultation on appointing them to the Supreme Court bench.
This is the first time that women were nominated for the top court's bench.
The nominations were made under the powers vested in the President by Article 148 of the Constitution, which authorises President Solih to appoint judges to the Supreme Court after consulting with JSC and securing a majority vote in parliament.
The nominations seek to fill the two positions which opened up on the bench with the ratification of the new amendment to the Judicature Act on July 23, 2019. This amendment increased the number of judges residing on the apex court bench from five to seven.
Azmiralda is the only female Judge to ever sit on the High Court bench and one of the only two PhD holders that served as a judge in the country.
Aisha Shujoon, who is also currently a Member of Bar Council, was one of the first female judges appointed in Maldives.
Aisha and Azmiralda both resigned from their positions as judges in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
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