President: Maldivian judiciary now fully independent

The Maldivian judiciary now functions as a fully independent and autonomous power, states President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

He made the comment at the opening of the judicial new year 2023 on Thursday.

Speaking at the function, President Solih said that it is the duty of the courts to establish justice among all people, issue verdicts free from any injustice, and provide the people with their rights.

He said that the duty can only be fulfilled by treating the protection of the legitimate government as the highest goal of the courts, and the goal can only be achieved by making Islamic Sharia and the Maldivian constitution and laws the basis of all judgements.

“Judges have been granted this freedom and power by the constitution. The judiciary is now functioning with full independence. There’s no one else to tell courthouses what and what not to do,” he said.

President Solih said the bad perception the people used to have towards the Maldivian justice system was slowly shifting.

“The people are growing confident regarding the decisions made by courthouses. Developing this confidence is a key goal of the government’s strategic action plan. The people will have confidence in the courthouses when it makes just rulings. And these rulings must be delivered in a timely manner, before its too late,” he said.

President Solih said that the delay in court cases remained a primary complaint of the people.  He said that one of the solutions to the complaint had been establishing facilities to conduct online hearings in all courthouses. He said the change has been saving money and time.

He said that the government has spent MVR 22.6 million on the project launched in 2020 to digitalize judicial services.

“The year we came to office, the budget allotted to judiciary was MVR 440 million. We allotted a budget of MVR 605 million for the judiciary this year. This is a 35 percent increase compared to 2018,” he said.

President Solih said the government is also pushing legal changes to expedite and improve the efficiency of the judiciary, including the proposed amendment to create district courts across Maldives.

He said that the courts will be empowered to hear cases under the purview of superior courts in Male’ City. And that the move will improve the access of people living in the atolls to justice.

At Thursday’s function, 17 judges who honorably retired were recognized for their service. The function also saw presentation of plaques to long-serving members of the judiciary.