Judicial Committee tasked with review of Chief Justice nominee Ghani

The Parliament’s Judiciary Committee on Monday was tasked with the review of former Supreme Court justice Abdul Ghani Mohamed, who has been nominated as the next Chief Justice of the Maldives.

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu sent a letter to the Parliament asking for approval to appoint Ghani for the role on Sunday.

The letter was read at the Parliament on Monday morning, and sent to the Judiciary Committee for review.

The role of Chief Justice got vacated following the retirement of Ahmed Muthasim Adnan back in July.

The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) received applications from three candidates for the vacant Chief Justice role; Ghani, Abdulla Mohamed, a sitting judge at the Family Court, and Shujau Usman, the former chief judge of High Court.

All three were interviewed by the JSC on Saturday, after which the JSC recommended Ghani for the role.

Ghani began his judicial career in 2000. He served as a judge at the Civil Court, before moving up as the chief judge of High Court, and then as a justice at the Supreme Court.

Ghani, who previously also served as president of the JSC, is currently serving as the president of the Tax Appeal Tribunal.

Ghani was previously appointed to the Supreme Court in 2018 in the wake of the infamous February 1 court order, which led to the dismissal of then-Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and Justice Ali Hameed Mohamed. But he was dismissed from the court in 2019, in a purge of the Supreme Court by the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) administration.