14 bills, including JSC reform bill, withdrawn at govt request

14 bills submitted to the parliament by the former Attorney General's Office has been withdrawn under this government’s request, including the Constitutional Amendment Bill to change the composition of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).

The 19th Parliament has expired and gone on leave on Thursday. After three adjournments in the last session of this year, the Speaker of the Parliament, Mohammed Aslam, said that five bills have been passed in this session.

Fourteen bills introduced by the former President Ibrahim Mohammed Solih's government have been sent back to the AG's office, he said. The bills were sent at the request of the present government, he said.

The withdrawn bills include two bills proposing to change the composition of the JSC. They are the JSC Act Amendment Bill and the Constitution Amendment Bill, which were moved by Aslam, Hithadhoo North MP and current Speaker of Parliament, on behalf of the government for the third term of this year.

The first bill to amend the Constitution to change the composition of the JSC to exclude politicians was introduced by Mahibadhpp MP Ahmed Thorig on 13 October 2023. He then introduced the bill in June last year. However, the bill was not passed by the MDP-majority Parliament on any of these occasions.

The Constitution and JSC Act Amendment Bill was re-introduced by the last government in June last year. The two bills moved by Aslam have now been withdrawn at the request of the government.

When the two bills were sent back:

The results of a questionnaire opened in December last year to seek public opinion on reforming the composition of the JSC showed that the people do not want to include the Speaker of Parliament, the Attorney General and the President of the Civil Service in the JSC.

The JSC is currently composed of:

Changing the composition of the JSC is a presidential promise of the previous government and this government. The promise was also included in the 'Agenda 19' sold by the MDP during the 2019 parliamentary election campaign. However, the last government officially launched the work in September last year to fulfill that promise.

President Mohammed Muizzu has also promised to start working from the first day of the government to make the JSC free from political influence.

The government withdrew two related bills that were pending in parliament, and the president had earlier said he intended to make changes to the bill if necessary. However, the President said that the absence of many MPs representing the PPM-PNC in parliament would be a challenge for the work.

The rest of the 14 bills sent by the current government for introduction in parliament are: