Judiciary committee sends judges case to parliament against Filza's legal advice

The judiciary committee of the parliament has forwarded the the case of removing two Supreme Court judges Dr Azmiralda Zahir and Mahaz Ali Zahir to the parliament floor despite Fathimath Filza, the parliament's Counsel General highlighting incomplete procedures.

The removal of the two judges are fueled by claims that they had contacted Criminal Court judges and coerced them to release Dr Azmiralda's husband, Dr Ismail Latheef from custody.

In a closed door meeting, the judiciary committee concluded that the Judicial Service Commission's decision to remove the two judges was correct, and passed to forward the case to the parliament floor.

Filza gave her legal opinion on the committee's report on Tuesday. However, it was disregarded.

The committee's Vice Chair, Huraa MP Anara Naeem proposed to forward the committee's decision to the parliament floor as is with Filza's recommendations attached. The remaining six ruling party, PNC members voted in favour of this suggestion. Opposition party MDP's MP Nazil voted against it.

In her recommendation to the committee, Filza said the JSC had violated the principle of equal treatment for all guaranteed by the Constitution and the law by acting differently in deciding cases submitted to the commission regarding judges.

“And the commission does not reverse the discretion not to follow a specific procedure when the law has prescribed it,” Filza said.

Based on this, Filza advised the committee that JSC, in deciding on the two judges case, had not involved the committee that decides on investigating cases, as prescribed by the law.

In the JSC report, the committee of the commission which investigated the case determined that Azmiralda and Mahaz influenced Criminal Court judge Ibrahim Zihunee, who sat on the remand case of Azmiralda's husband Dr Ismail, via another Criminal Court judge Sofwath Habeeb, released from custody. Based on this determination, JSC recommended to the parliament that the two Supreme Court judges be removed.

A judge can be removed from office by parliamentary after JSC sends the request to the parliament. Several Supreme Court judges were removed by parliamentary votes in the past as well.