The Supreme Court, on Thursday, sustained the High Court and Employment Tribunal's decision to reinstate an employ of Ministry of Gender, Family and Social Sevices fired over negligence, in the case of Mohamed Ibthihaal, who succumbed to death due to injuries of abuse in Vaavu Atoll's Rakeedhoo at the beginning of 2015.
In response to the Civil Service Commission (CSC) appealing the High Court's order at the Supreme Court, the apex court concluded that the employee had lost their job unlawfully, as they had just started work and had not received any proper instructions or training on how to handle the case.
Since they were unaware of how to proceed with the initial report submitted to the centre, and their senior staff had not run the process by them, Supreme Court concluded that it cannot be declared that they deliberately neglected their duties.
The court's verdict further highlighted that it was the state authority's responsibility to train and provide clear instructions to those employed at such posts, in order to avoid any harm that may be caused to people seeking services.
"Without acting as such, and claiming an employee's negligence when things go wrong, and fully or partly blaming the employee for what happened is not just, or acceptable", read the verdict delivered with the unanimous agreement of the three judges.
Moreover, the court noted that procedural fairness was overlooked as the employee in question was not given an opportunity to answer for themselves, describing the state's decision to not reinstate the employee as "accepting the unfair treatment of the employee".
Supreme Court's judges Aisha Shujoon Mohamed, Dr. Azmiralda Zahir and Mahaaz Ali delivered the verdict on the case.
The state charged a number of Gender Ministry's employees and Maldives Police Service personnel with negligence over Ibthihaal's murder. However, the Criminal Court had already rejected some of the cases.
Ibthihaal's mother, Aafiya Mohamed, charged with abusing and murdering her son, is still on trial. However, the hearings of the case have concluded and the Criminal Court has now reached the stage of delivering the verdict.
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