Despite the former government bestowing the island of Thinadhoo with the title of a city due the approach of the presidential election, the council had some concerns about its constitutional status which the council had submitted to the parliament.
An amendment to the law has been proposed to the parliament in order to establish the Gaaf Dhaal Atoll Thinadhoo Island Council as a City Council and eliminate the legal obstructions that prevent the council with this stature.
Despite the former government bestowing the island of Thinadhoo with the title of a city due the approach of the presidential election, the council had some concerns about its constitutional status. Subsequently, the council submitted their concerns to the parliament.
The amendments to resolve the concerns was submitted by Thulhaadhoo constituency member, Hisaan Hussein.
The amendment dictates that if the island has been changed to a city, the island council voted to run the city must be transformed into a city council prior to the change. It was also mandated to replace the title of President and Vice President of the council to Mayor and Deputy Mayor. As stipulated in the amendment, this change will apply until the term of the concerned island council expires.
The amendment also states that with the transformation to a city, the City Council will assume all the powers and responsibilities as stipulated in the law, and is mandated to provide the services of a city as stated in the law.
This amendment being brought to the Decentralization Act states that if the city is formed inclusive of all the islands in the administrative area, the Atoll Council serving the area will be nullified from that point on. Additionally, the projects, services and areas supervised by the Atoll Council will be reassigned to the City Council.
The concerns of the council following the announcement by the former government on its decision to reform the island to a city, was the different ways the state institutions address them, giving rise to various confusions arising in the budgets, staff remunerations and additional services within the council. As the council president has not been established as the Mayor, that issue was also raised with the parliament.
However, the Local Government Authority (LGA) had stated that the Thinadhoo council cannot be bestowed with the title of a city due to the constitution. LGA said that even if the island becomes a city in the middle of its council term, the city will be supervised by the island council as clear in Article 51 of the Decentralization Act.
Counsel General of the parliament had opined that the constitution does not allow the island council to be established as a city council and bestow that titled on the council. Hence, the decision to amend the law was deliberated by the Decentralization Committee.
The committee decided to amend sections b,c,d,e,f and g of Article 51 of the Decentralization Act. Stipulation 51 (b) of the act was determined to be amended to allow the change from island council to city council six months before the end of term if the council term has less than a year remaining.
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