Committee looking into Criminal, Civil Court case actions

The Committee on Independent Institutions has decided to look into the case procedures of the Criminal Court and the Civil Court, along with the speed at which they review cases.

An informed MP stated yesterday that the cases that are still pending from the Criminal Court and Civil Court, along with closed cases, will be closely looked at regarding the actions the courts took to bring the cases to a close.

The MP stated that the point of this is in order to find a way to increase the speed at which cases are reviewed due to the slowed pace of these courts.

"As per our observations till now, smaller cases have been finished but the bigger cases have been put to the side. Major civil cases and even bigger criminal accusations are incomplete for days on end," said the MP.

"We want to see why these cases have remained unfinished for so long and to see how we can have the courts be held accountable."

Regarding the incomplete cases by courts and the proposed amendments to the Judges Act of Maldives, Judicial Service Commission (JSC) President and Maafushi MP Hussain Riza said that hearings regarding the slow case completion had to be canceled upon requests from defense lawyers and prosecutors. Riza said this during a Judiciary Committee hearing.

Riza also said that cases being dismissed is in part due to failure in presenting the required evidence by the police.

As per Riza, the other reason is the courts not having the required employees due to salaries and benefits staying stagnant.

Riza stated that employee salaries have not increased at all since 2008. He also stated that the legal industry has "no power" due to other justice institutions having a decent salary framework.

As for the third reason, Riza attributed slow case pace to the poor condition of the court buildings, along with a lack of proper buildings.

The Judiciary Committee has questioned the JSC in the past regarding court cases not being completed for a long time. A lot of Riza's arguments that were presented yesterday are arguments that had been repeatedly presented by the JSC in the past.