Judges hired to High Court shortly after publicizing list of candidates

The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) appointed two new judges to the High Court on Wednesday, shortly after publicizing the list of candidates who applied for the vacancies.

The JSC opened applications for the two vacancies at the High Court on July 10. The commission had not publicized the names of candidates who applied by the July 16 deadline until Wednesday, shortly before it held interviews.

The commission made its selection shortly after Wednesday night’s interviews.

Multiple sources informed Sun that one of the candidates selected is a sitting judge at a lower court, while the other is someone who had been serving a political post and was often seen in ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) events.

However, neither the JSC nor High Court have announced the names of the selected candidates.

According to standard practice, the process of appointment of judges is carried out with plenty of days between the vacancy announcement, the release of list of candidates, and the interviews.

But unlike before, the list of 18 candidates was publicized after arranging the interviews, and shortly before the interviews began.

The list of candidates had also already leaked on social media before the JSC publicized the names. The only new development was the official confirmation that one of the candidates, JSC member Ali Abdul Latheef, withdrew his candidacy.

The list of candidates:

• Ahmed Naushad
• Hafiza Abdul Sattar
• Ashfaq Naeem
• Mohamed Fawwaz
• Ahmed Shukoor
• Ibrahim Ali
• Ibrahim Nasih
• Mohamed Shaheed
• Hassan Faheem Ibrahim
• Adam Arif
• Mohamed Zahid
• Shujau Usman
• Ahmed Thaufeeq
• Ali Abdul Latheef
• Sulaiman Mohamed
• Mohamed Ibrahim
• Abdulla Jameel Moosa
• Mohamed Ragib Ahmed

The vacancies opened after the court’s former chief judge Hussain Shaheed and judge Mohamed Saleem were appointed to the Supreme Court.