The Parliament on Monday passed to dismiss High Court Judge Abdulla Hameed.
Before the vote on Judge Hameed's dismissal, Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed first asked members to vote on the report prepared by the Judiciary Committee on the JSC's motion to dismiss former High Court Judge Abdulla Rauf and Judge Abdulla Hameed.
While 18 members voted in favor of the committee's report, the report could not be passed as 48 members voted against it. A vote was then taken on Judge Abdulla Hameed's dismissal.
While 58 members voted in favor of Judge Hameed's removal, seven voted against it. Three members abstained from the vote. Following the vote, Speaker Nasheed announced that Judge Abdulla Hameed had been removed from the post with the majority vote of MPs.
The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) sought the removal of High Court judges Abdulla Hameed, Abdul Rauf Ibrahim, and Ahmed Sameer through the Parliament last April. The JSC looked into the judges for allegedly buying a flat at concessional prices against regulations. The judges bought the flats during the government of former President Abdulla Yameen.
After investigating the case, the JSC said that the judges had bought flats allocated by the government to the judges at special prices. They are also accused of issuing a particular High court judgment in return for the deal. JSC said their investigation into the case proved that the flats were given to the High Court judges illegally. The commission further said the apartments were given directly by the government as an allowance to the judges, without any role of Parliament. However, the Judiciary Committee of Parliament has ruled that the JSC did not follow the required procedures in investigating the matter. The JSC denies the committee's allegations.
While Judge Sameer resigned from the court following the allegations, Judge Rauf resigned from his post on Tuesday, after the Parliament's Judicial Committee had reviewed the matter and sent its report to the Speaker.
