JSC responds to Abdullah Shahid

The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has said that it had been approved to give the president and the secretary general of the commission the power to send letters to courts to request to expedite cases concerning the commission.

JSC said this in a letter sent to JSC Member, Speaker of Parliament Abdullah Shahid in response to Shahid’s letter in which he accused the commission of having sent a letter to High Court, requesting it to expedite the case filed by former President Mohamed Nasheed regarding the legitimacy of the bench appointed to Hulhumale’ Court, without discussing the matter with commission members.

JSC has sent a copy of the letter, as well as a copy of the document detailing the decision made by the commission on 2 January 2012 to give the commission’s president and secretary general the power to send letters to courts to request to expedite cases, to media groups.

The letter sent to Shahid by President of JSC Adam Mohamed Abdullah states that JSC has requested the Civil Court and the Supreme Court to expedite cases filed against the commission also on several occasions in the past.

In the letter, Adam Mohamed Abdullah said that according to article 8 of the JSC Act, work shall be assigned to the commission members by the commission president. He also highlighted article 9 of the Act, which states that the vice president of the commission shall perform the duties assigned by the president.

In this regard, Adam Mohamed Abdullah expressed disappointment over the letter sent by Shahid which failed to take into account the aforementioned rules.