The Parliament's Judiciary Committee voted to pass a bill proposing the downsizing of Maldives' Supreme Court bench from seven to five judges.
The parliament passed the motion to accept the bill today and referred it to the Judiciary Committee for consideration in the afternoon. A few hours later, the committee convened and passed the bill as proposed.
Seven of the eight PNC members on the committee voted in favour. Huraa MP Anara Naeem abstained from the vote.
Anara, who is the Vice Chair of the committee also expressed concern over some provisions of the bill, specifically the shortened duration of seven days for the process of removing judges. However, she said she did not want to propose any amendments to the clause.
MP Mauroof, however, proposed to extend the duration to 21 days. Anara abstained in that vote as well. Feydhoo MP Ismail Nizar voted in favour, but the suggestion was turned down with five members voting against it.
South Hithadhoo MP Ibrahim Nazil and Kendhoo MP Mauroof Zakir voted against the bill.
As soon as the committee meeting began, Hulhudhoo MP Mohamed Shahid moved that the bill be passed by the committee on Tuesday itself. The committee approved the motion. Members who voted to pass the bill told the committee that the bill should be passed soon claiming there was not much research required for the bill.
The bill was originally proposed to the parliament by Holhudhoo MP Abdul Sattar Mohamed. It was accepted by the parliament with 64 votes of PNC MPs while 11 PNC members were not present to vote.
Ahead of the vote, PNC had issued a three-line whip to vote on the bill. However, some PNC members were not in the present in the parliament at the time of the vote.
Dissatisfied with this, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu sent a message to the PNC Parliamentary Group's WhatsApp chat group, some members reportedly told Mihaaru news. According to Mihaaru, MPs said Dr. Muizzu told them that they should not act against the party's whip.
PNC's PG Leader Ibrahim Falah also said in a message that action would be taken against MPs who violated the three-line whip.
Only three PNC members spoke in the debate on the bill to reduce the number of judges to five - MP Nazim, Baarah MP Ibrahim Shujau and Mahibadhoo MP Ahmed Thoriq. All three supported the bill.