Parliament approves the bill to have a seven-judge bench including the Chief Justice, in the Supreme Court, as opposed to the current five
The amendment, proposed by Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)’s Parliamentary Group leader and Central Henveiru MP Ali Azim, was approved without making any amendments to the motion by 74 attending members.
The Supreme Court was first established with a five-judge bench. However, in 2010 the number was increased to seven and it was reverted back to five during the Presidency of Yameen Abdul Gayoom in 2014.
MDP members supported the motion to increase the number of judges on the Supreme Court bench. This has raised concerns about the increase in expenditure of MVR 7.9 million per year amongst members.
