Court rules against proceeding with case on transfer of Dharubaaruge employees

Civil Court has issued a ruling that there is no room to proceed with the case against the Civil Service Commission (CSC), presented to court by the Male’ City Council for changing the employees of Dharubaaruge to the authority Ministry of Housing.

The ruling comes following a point of order for non-compliance with procedure submitted by the CSC.

Civil Court ruling states that the council must publicly announce the resolution they pass, and that the Maldives Decentralization Act states that those resolutions that are not publicly announced will be considered as invalid resolutions.

The ruling also states that while the Act states as such, the council had passed a resolution that declared that the power to undertake any work regarding the perusal of court cases shall fall upon the Mayor, the Deputy Mayor, or in their absence, any designated person in-charge of the council, and that his declaration was not made public. The court had therefore ruled that there was no room to proceed with the case any further.

The case presented to the court by the City Council stated that the 17 employees working in Dharubaaruge which were under the authority of the City Council were changed under the authority of the Ministry of Housing against civil service regulations.

The case also asked for a ruling to declare that that the CSC decision to change the employees was against the law, stating reason that Dharubaruge employees were changed to the Ministry of Housing without the knowledge of the Male’ City Council, and because this has caused a suspension of leasing Dharubaaruge, which had in turn resulted in financial loses to the council. The case also appealed for an order requiring the employees be changed back to the jurisdiction of the Male’ City Council.