Court rejects opposition plea over 2 pres claims

Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a constitutional petition filed by the opposition PPM-PNC coalition questioning Vice President Faisal Naseem's swearing-in as president. This is the second time that the court has taken this decision on the case.

PPM-PNC's legal team held a press conference at the coalition office on Tuesday, announcing that the Supreme Court had rejected the petition filed last week.

Speaking at a press conference, Siddiq, who was part of the legal team, said the case was filed in the court for the second time on a total of three points:

Siddiq said that as per the court's written submission rejecting the plea, even though the points noted said otherwise, "considering the nature of the charge sheet and the reasons on which the case was framed, the case could not be taken up as it was not a constitutional matter as defined in Section 11 of the Courts Act".

"This reply shows me that the Supreme Court Registrar does not believe that it is a matter to be looked into by the Supreme Court," said Siddiq, who was also deputy minister for home affairs in the opposition leader and former president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom's government.

Siddiq said the decision to reject the first complaint was signed by the court registrar at the time. However, this time it was the assistant registrar who signed the decision, he said.

"So, I think there's always a feeling of being absolved of responsibility. Then, if the assistant registrar was given that power, he might have the right to do so," Siddiq said.

When the Registrar of the Supreme Court refused to entertain a case, the place to review the decision was the appellate body of the Supreme Court. Siddiqui said efforts were on to raise the issue there as well. If they still does not take up the matter, he will move the High Court, he said.

Vice President Faisal was sworn in as president on February 25 last year when President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih underwent a surgery in Singapore. This is because, according to the Constitution, when the president is unable to perform his duties, the vice president has to take on those responsibilities.

Article 123 of the Constitution says that if the President is temporarily motivated to discharge his duties, the duties shall be conveyed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the duties shall be handed over to the Vice President; but it does not state that the Vice President shall take a separate oath to perform the duties of the President.

In the event of a situation where the President is not aware that he is temporarily unable to perform his duties, the Speaker of the Parliament should be informed of the cabinet's value, the Vice President and subsequently the Vice President should take charge of the duties of the President; but even in that situation, it is not stated that the Vice President will have to take the oath of office.

The opposition has questioned the fact that the constitution does not state that a vice-president should be sworn in to assume the duties of the president. Opposition believes Faisal will be president after that day.

The opposition is also reluctant to respond to this year's presidential statement, saying it was not the president giving it.