The Maldives government has been developing special guidelines on court proceedings as a response to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
In this regard, guidelines established by the two upper courts, the Supreme Court and High Court have been publicized over the past two days. After the declaration of a public health emergency in the Maldives, each court has arranged for cases to be filed with the courts via online medium. While the public health emergency has now been extended until the end of April, it has been noted that there is no uniformity in the guidelines developed by the two courts.
As per the guideline developed by the Supreme Court, the appeal period will be counted after deducting the period of government closure since the declaration of a public health emergency. In normal situations, the appeal period is counted similarly after excluding public holidays. The guideline further states that non-urgent appeals can be made after the end of the public health emergency period, while urgent appeals can be made through emails.
Supreme Court’s guideline contradicts with the High Court’s guideline. According to the High Court’s guideline, even though the government is closed since March 19, the dates will still be counted towards the appeal period, and will not be considered as public holidays, as the court has arranged for online submission of appeals. During this period, 9 cases have been filed with the High Court.
In that sense, the appeal period of the cases that were concluded prior to the government closure has ended even though the cases were not appealed because of the government closure.
Some lawyers have expressed distaste over the matter. They note that it confuses people when the two upper courts have two contradicting guidelines on the same issue. There should be one particular guideline on such matters, further noted the lawyers. The High Court developing a separate guideline when the Supreme Court had already developed a guideline is distress, the lawyers expressed.
Following the closure of the government offices owing to COVID-19, the courts are also closed unless it is absolutely necessary to keep the court open. Despite that, noting that justice cannot be delayed over an extended period, it has been decided to hold highly urgent trials, including conducting video conference proceedings when possible.
