Drug Court was created without consulting Judiciary: Chief Justice

Chief Justice Ahmed Faiz Hussain has said that the Judiciary was not consulted when the Parliament made the decision to create the Drug Court.

Speaking at the ceremony held to launch the website for Drug Court, Faiz said that the Judiciary had not been able to make the necessary preparations to include a new Court in the system.

“Judiciary was not consulted on this matter. There are several financial and administrative preparations to be made. We were not able to do this as we were not included in the planning to create this Court,” he said.

He noted that the biggest challenge faced by the Judiciary of Maldives is lack of space, and that the building assigned to Drug Court is not the most suitable for the operation of a Court. He added that this year’s state budget for Judiciary did not include a Drug Court, and thus efforts have to be made to obtain finance to operate the Drug Court.

He said that former President Mohamed Nasheed and President Waheed have been informed of the problem of lack of space faced by the Judiciary.

Drug Court was created under the Drug Act.