Petition against council land bill reaches threshold for debate

An e-petition opposing a proposed amendment to the Decentralisation Act that would grant the Cabinet authority to reclaim land and property under local council jurisdiction has gathered sufficient support to be debated in the People's Majlis.

The petition, submitted by Midhuam Saud, founder of the non-governmental organisation Aanmunge Jamiyya, calls for the withdrawal of the bill introduced by Thulhaadhoo MP Abdul Hannan Aboobakuru.

Although Aboobakuru sits in Parliament as an independent member, he has previously submitted legislation aligned with government policy.

The bill was submitted to Parliament last Wednesday. Debate on the legislation began on Monday and concluded the same day, after which Parliament voted to accept the bill and refer it to committee for review. The committee subsequently set a five-day deadline to complete its work on the legislation.

One of the key provisions of the bill would allow the government to reclaim land and property currently under the jurisdiction of local councils.

According to parliamentary records, the petition, submitted on August 7, has so far received 2,190 signatures. This exceeds the threshold required for classification as a Threshold 2 or “Special Petition”, which requires support from at least 0.5 per cent of the Maldivian population.

Under parliamentary procedures, a Special Petition must be forwarded to the floor of the Majlis for debate. The matter must be placed on the agenda and discussed during one of the next three parliamentary sittings.

The petition argues that the proposed amendment would transfer authority from elected councillors to the Cabinet and create a framework under which councillors could face consequences for opposing or refusing to cooperate with Cabinet decisions.

It further states that the proposed changes conflict with both the provisions and the intent of the Decentralisation Act and would reduce the authority exercised by elected local representatives.

Under the existing Decentralisation Act, the President has the authority to determine council jurisdictions. Previous administrations have used this provision to remove certain islands and lagoons from council control. Current legislation requires compensation to be provided for investments made on land that is reclaimed by the state.

The proposed amendment would expand the government's powers beyond the current framework. Under the bill, the Cabinet would be able to decide that land or property within a council's jurisdiction be removed from council control for government development projects. Once such a decision is made, the Local Government Authority (LGA) would notify the council and the property would revert to state control.

The bill also proposes requiring councils to release land requested for government development projects, obliging councillors to cooperate with such projects under their code of conduct, and classifying actions that obstruct government projects without reasonable grounds as prohibited conduct.

The proposed amendment comes months after local council elections in which the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) secured seats in major cities and larger island councils across the country.