Petition seeks Supreme Court action against AG Usham for contempt

A petition was submitted to the Supreme Court today, seeking to hold Attorney General Ahmed Usham in contempt of the court.

The request was submitted by former Kendhoo MP and lawyer Ali Hussain, claiming that the Attorney General's Office failed to comply with a Supreme Court order within the time frame provided, regarding the ongoing case seeking to quash the anti-defection amendment of the constitution.

According to Hussain, a day 10 period was awarded to the Attorney General's Office to respond to the order. However, he claimed that the court informed him that the state had not responded, nor requested for additional time.

According to Hussain's letter the 10 day period expired on 28th February. However, such timeframes exclude public holidays, and as such, the actual duration ended on 6th March.

According to the Supreme Court regulation, any party required by the court to comply with the court's order would be in contempt of the court if they fail to do so.

Based on this, in his letter to Chief Justice Ahmed Muthasim Adnan, Hussain requested action to be taken against Usham for violating the Supreme Court order and to order the Attorney General's Office to comply with the initial requirement of the Supreme Court.

After Hussain posted a copy of the letter on X, Usham responded on the app by questioning Hussain's intentions and claiming he had lied. Usham clarified that the court had granted them 10 working days, and said the Attorney General's Office had done what was required of them within that period.

The case regarding the anti-defection amendment was being heart by the Supreme Court's full bench. However, just 15 minutes before a scheduled hearing, judges Husnu Suood, Dr. Azmiralda Zahir and Mahaz Ali Zahir were suspended, leaving the case in limbo.

The suspension also came after the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the plaintiff to continue with hearings, while the state argued the Supreme Court lacked the authority to hear the case. Shortly after, the three judges were suspended by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) citing active investigations at the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) involving them.

However, so far no government authority has revealed the allegations against the judges. Since then, judge Suood has also tendered his resignation from the bench.

In his resignation letter, Suood alleged that the government was influencing the anti-defection case, and pointed out that the parliament, in which the ruling party holds supermajority, had passed a bill to downsize the Supreme Court bench from seven to five. He branded this as an act of intimidating and influencing all the judges of the Supreme Court.