The Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned the order it issued on February 1 to reinstate all unseated legislators.
The landmark ruling of February 1, which had infamously ordered the release of nine high-profile political prisoners, had also declared that no lawmakers had been ousted from the parliament.
While the verdict did not specify, it came after 12 MPs had been declared unseated over floor-crossing last year. The top court ruling had also conditioned to allow any MPs that were declared unseated, to be allowed back in parliament sittings.
The February 1 verdict had been issued unanimously by all five justices on the top court bench, including the then Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and then Judge Ali Hameed. However the government on February 5 had declared a state of emergency and arrested Saeed and Hameed under accusations of conspiring to overthrow the government by manipulating the top court's verdict. Subsequently, the remaining three judges of the Supreme Court had withdrawn the order to free political prisoners, but till date had not annulled the section calling to reinstate disqualified parliamentarians.
However on Wednesday, the new verdict overturning the order to reinstate the MPs, was issued unanimously by the new Chief Justice Dr. Ahmed Abdulla, recently appointed Judge Abdulla Didi, and the other three top court judges Abdulla Areef, Adam Mohamed and Abdul Ghani.
The verdict stated that the section of the February 1 ruling on reinstating the legislators, did not have a "legitimate basis".
In the wake of February 1, the state had soon filed at the Supreme Court to annul the order to restore the seats of disqualified MPs. The state had deemed the order unconstitutional, and proclaimed that the landmark ruling had been manipulated by the then Chief Justice Saeed and then Judge Hameed, who had had ulterior motives and deceived the rest of the top court bench.
In the verdict on Wednesday, the court stated that while it did not have to look into any alleged ulterior motives, legal action can be imposed on a judge who comprises the integrity demanded of a justice's stature.
The verdict further elaborated that the apex court had initially ruled on July 13, 2017 that floor-crossing lawmakers would lose their seats on the parliament. However the initial ruling had also conditioned the parliament to approve an Anti-Defection Act, which had not been compiled even six months on.
The following ruling on February 1 had stated that it was ordering to reinstate all unseated MPs over the failure to implement an Anti-Defection Act. However, the parliament had passed the Act soon after the February 1 verdict, and the Supreme Court had ruled that the new legislation was legitimate. The court had asserted at the time that the Anti-Defection law was necessary to strengthen the multi-party system in Maldives.
In the new verdict on Wednesday, the court again stressed the importance of the Anti-Defection Act, stating that it was imperative to the Maldives.
However, the Supreme Court also highlighted that the 12 ousted MPs had filed separate cases at the court regarding their disqualifications. Chief Justice Abdulla Didi stated that they were "constitutional issues", and that the top court must look into the separate cases and issue a final verdict.
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