Chief Justice refuses to receive summon

Chief Justice Dr Ahmed Abdulla Didi has refused to receive a notice of summon sent by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) regarding disciplinary proceeding against the judge.

JSC released a statement on Monday night after several local medias cited a Supreme Court official stating that an unknown person had attempted to enter the Chief Justice's residence under the guise of delivering a summon.

In their statement, JSC said they sent an employee to the Chief Justice's residence to deliver a summon to the Chief Justice. JSC said Justice Abdulla Didi had refused to receive the summon.

"When our employee arrived at the Justices' residence and attempted to deliver the summon, he was questioned on who he was. When he stated his name and produced his ID, and explained that he was an employee of the Judicial Service Commission sent to deliver a document, the Chief Justice refused to receive the document and closed the door on him", JSC said.

JSC further revealed that the document in question was a summon sent to attend the investigation committee regarding a disciplinary issue being investigated by the commission.

While the JSC has concluded the investigation into another disciplinary case involving the judge, the judge has refused to respond to the investigate report prepared by JSC on their findings.

There is a lot of tension between JSC and the Chief Justice at present, with the commission looking into a number of disciplinary issues associated with the Justice.

The JSC first probed unconstitutional rulings made by the Supreme Court. When the Chief Judge was summoned for inquiry, he refused to present himself to the commission and released a statement which accused the JSC of acting outside their mandate, and obstructing the Supreme Court from fulfilling its responsibilities. He further accused the JSC of attempting to control the judiciary.

The JSC has since announced their decision to investigate the judge for the serious accusations he made in his statement as a separate case, and later announced they were investigating an additional case where the Chief Justice is accused of threatening the Secretary General of the Supreme Court. Following the announcement, the Chief Justice released a second statement denying the allegations.