The Criminal Court of the Maldives has extended court hours for the scheduling of pending cases.
The Criminal Court said cases will be scheduled from 1400hrs to 1700hrs in addition to the usual timings. The court is scheduled to work on these cases for a period of three months from June 1.
An average of 900 cases are filed at the Criminal Court every year. Unresolved cases have increased over the years and the Criminal Court has faced obstacles to completing the cases. As such, the court was closed due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and many difficulties were faced in summoning inmates to the court.
The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has earlier said that it will take about 16 years to complete all the cases pending in the Criminal Court even if cases were scheduled in full capacity.