Parliamentary Committee on Judiciary has approved the nomination submitted by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih to be appointed as the Chief Justice and the Supreme Court Judge.
President Solih nominated former Supreme Court Justice Ahmed Muthasim Adnan and former Attorney General Husnu Suood to be appointed to the vacant positions of the Supreme Court bench. The nominations were made after seeking counsel from Judicial Services Commission (JSC).
A statement from JSC revealed it has received the report from President's Office with details of applicants and the nominations from the president. After reviewing the report, JSC decided to counsel the president to appoint Muthasim and Suood to the bench.
The statement from JSC further explained it is currently probing into the third nomination from the president, Abdul Rauf Ibrahim, over disciplinary issues. JSC said a decision will be made after investigating the issues.
Muthasim previously served as a judge at the appex court during the previous administration. He was dismissed from his position with the reduction of the bench from 7 to 5 in 2014. With the changes, former Chief Justice Ahmed Faiz Hussain and Justice Muthasim were dismissed.
The current bench at the Supreme Court consists of Justice Aisha Shujoon Mohamed, Justice Mahaz Ali Zahir, Justice Abdul Ghanee Mohamed and Justice Dr. Azmiralda Zahir, who has been tasked with running the Supreme Court. JSC has recently decided to dismiss Justice Abdul Ghanee Mohamed.
The bench of the Supreme Court was increased from 5 to 7 in July 2019.