The High Court has amended the guideline on their administrative proceedings that was prepared in response to COVID-19 pandemic.
The court amended the published guidelines on counting appeal period to align with the guideline prepared by the Supreme Court on the matter.
Two guidelines established by the two upper courts, the Supreme Court and High Court have been publicised over the past three 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. They will not be considered as public holidays, as the court has arranged for online submission of appeals. The High Court faced heavy criticism from lawyers and the public over the contradictory point on the appeal period.
A senior official of the High Court said they have now changed the guidelines on counting the appeal period. The official said, the High Court prepared their guideline before the Supreme Court’s guidelines were published.
As per the amended point of the guideline, in the current situation, the appeal period of cases filed with the High Court will be counted excluding days the government is closed due to the declaration of a public health emergency in the Maldives.
The High Court
