The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) is seeking to dismiss a judge for the first time in its history.
According to the law, the JSC has to file a motion at the Parliament to seek dismissal of a judge after investigating disciplinary issues pertaining to said judge. A vote then has to be taken at the parliament to remove the judge from his appointment.
The JSC on Wednesday made the decision to file a motion at the parliament to dismiss Magistrate Ibrahim Rasheed of Thinadhoo Magistrate Court, with the approval of the nine commission members present at the meeting. A total of ten members are on the JSC.
The decision to submit for Rasheed's dismissal comes after reviewing a complaint submitted against the judge after he was arrested while intoxicated. He was suspended from his duties following the incident.
At the time, the magistrate was presented to the court to decide on his remand whereupon he was released by the court, citing that he was arrested in violation of due procedure. The incident occurred in 2016.
Newly appointed members to the JSC, Speaker Nasheed, and parliament representative to the commission Hisaan Hussain took part in Wednesday's JSC meeting.
During the meeting, JSC also approved to suspend Supreme Court Judge Abdulla Didi due to an ongoing police investigation against the judge following a complaint filed by JSC member and Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Nasheed over bribery allegations. The commission also suspended Family Court Chief Judge Hassan Saeed over a disciplinary issue, of which the details were not revealed.
