Parliament fails to pass 7-day ultimatum to send Hulhumale’ building code

The Parliament, on Tuesday, failed to pass the seven-day ultimatum to Planning Ministry to send the Hulhumale’ Planning and Building Code to the President’s Office to publish on the Government Gazette within seven days.

The failure to publish the amended Hulhumale’ Planning and Building Code, included in Table 1 of Public Regulations, was the subject of a review by the Parliament’s Regulations Committee.

The committee found neither the Constitution nor the laws allowed the failure to publish the code, and that the Planning Minister Mohamed Aslam was in contempt of the powers and privileges granted to parliamentary committees under laws and regulations.

The committee recommended ordering the Planning Ministry to send the code to the President’s Office within seven days the recommendations are passed by the Parliament.

However, 40 out of 59 MPs voted against the recommendation Tuesday.

The recommendations were presented to the floor by the Regulations Committee’s chair, Kudahuvadhoo MP Ahmed Amir, a politician from MDA, earlier Tuesday.

Following the presentation of the report, Parliament’s Speaker, former President Mohamed Nasheed indirectly called for an investigation against Aslam, commenting that failure to follow the requirements set down on the law is a violation of the law.

“Therefore, MPs can decide to go to court, or to make a decision regarding the minister,” he said.