A media official from the Attorney General's Office stated that the hearing has been placed on agenda for 10:45 hrs on February 25.
Supreme Court has tabled the hearing on the State submitted case concerning the amendment to Parliament Regulations on the method of counting the total number of parliamentarians to be held on February 25.
A media official from the Attorney General's Office stated that the hearing has been placed on agenda for 10:45 hrs on February 25.
According to the Constitution of Maldives, the President and Vice President of the country can be dismissed from the position if two-thirds of the lawmakers vote in approval of a motion to remove them. However, an amendment made to this regulation last year stipulated that when votes were being counted, seats that were vacant for various reasons would not be included.
With several members having left their seats to take up positions in the current administration and other reasons, the number of parliamentarians has now come down to 80 from 87. With this, the quorum for parliament sittings has also decreased.
This change currently allows for the President to be removed from his position with the combined votes of the Maldives Democratic Party (MDP) legislators and The Democrats legislators.
The State submitted a case to the Supreme Court asking to rescind the amendment, and sought an interim injunction to stay the implementation of the amendment.
Attorney General's Office maintains that the phrasing of "total number of parliamentarians" mentioned in three articles under Article 49 of the Parliament Regulations is in contravention of the Constitution's Article 71, and appeals to the Supreme Court to revoke said articles.
Subsequently, the Supreme Court issued an interim order on February 5 to halt implementation of the amendment.
However, the Parliament conducted a vote on the matter last Tuesday and the Speaker then announced that the legislative would not be abiding by the Supreme Court's interim order.
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