A debate has occurred between the members of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) on whether High Court Judge Mohamed Saleem meets the requirements to fill the post of Supreme Court Judge.

A decision was reached in today's JSC meeting to nominate the names of Saleem and former High Court Judge Abdulla Hameed to fill the vacated Supreme Court Judge positions.

However, before this, a heated debate was held regarding whether Saleem meets the requirements. Some members of JSC were of the view that Saleem did not meet the requirements outlined in Article 149(c) of the Constitution.

Article 149(c) states that "A person appointed to be a Judge of the Supreme Court, shall be at least thirty years of age; possess at least seven years experience as a Judge or practicing lawyer or both as a Judge and a practicing lawyer, and must be educated in Islamic Shari’ah or law".

Saleem worked as High Court's Legal Officer for 12 years. He was appointed as a High Court Judge in 2022, making his tenure as a Judge only three years long.

Members raised concerns that Saleem has at no time advocated in courts as a lawyer. Saleem himself is reported as having stated this in his interview.

However, Saleem and Hameed gained the highest number of marks in the interviews. JSC passed today to forward the names of these two judges to the President.

Attorney General Ahmed Usham did not attend today's JSC meeting.