Police Board: No capacity to make a decision on appealing dismissal of officers

Police Board has informed the Attorney General’s Office (AG Office) on Saturday that they do not have the capacity to make a decision regarding appealing the dismissal of several senior police officers.

The Police Board decided to terminate seven senior police officers from their posts back in August 2021 under the Police Service Act, which was ratified in December 2020, and took effect in March 2021.

The seven senior officers terminated by the Police Board were:

• Superintendent Mohamed Dawood
• Assistant Commissioner Faruhadh Fikury
• Chief Superintendent Ahmed Shuhaadh
• Assistant Commissioner Mohamed Jamsheed
• Assistant Commissioner Ahmed Mohamed
• Superintendent Ismail Shameem
• Chief Superintendent Abdulla Shareef

Five officers submitted a Civil Court case alleging wrongful dismissal and seeking to restore their infringed administrative and constitutional rights. The two officers who were not a part of the lawsuit are Faruhadh Fikury and Ahmed Shuhaadh.

Civil Court, which heard the case behind closed doors, in December last year, decided that the officers were dismissed wrongfully.

Shortly after the judgement, AG Office sought the Police Board’s counsel on appealing the case. The Police Board had not responded back then.

On Saturday, however, the Police Board informed AG Office that they did not have the capacity to make a decision regarding appealing the case, as the dismissed officers were no longer part of the force while the board had not intervened in the case either.