The law does not disallow filing suit if minister

Male’ City Council has said that the law does not disallow filing a lawsuit against the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure if his actions resulted in people losing their rights.

The City Council said this in court in response to a procedural issue raised by the State, at the trial of the case filed by City Council claiming that the Housing Minister had been negligent in implementing the Decentralisation Act.

At today’s session of the trial, Male’ City Council lawyer Ali Hussain said that there is no law that states that the Housing Minister should be summoned to a parliament committee before a case is filed against him to court.

Ali Hussain said this in response to the State’s claim at the last session of the trial, that the Constitution stipulates the procedure to be followed in the event that a minister fails to carry out his responsibilities, and that this issue should not have been filed to court.

Responding to Ali Hussain’s remarks, Deputy State Attorney of the Attorney General’s Office Ushama Moosa said that the State does not agree that the Housing Minister can be prosecuted for his actions in his capacity as an individual.

Ali Hussain responded by saying that the prosecution needs to proceed and witnesses need to present their testimonies, in order to decide if the Housing Ministry, the Housing Minister, or the State should take responsibility for the actions of Housing Minister Dr Mohamed Muizzu.

Before concluding today’s session, Civil Court Judge Ali Rasheed Hussain said that a decision will be made at the next session regarding the procedural issue raised by the State.