Parliament has concluded the second session of this year on Thursday. During this term, the parliament completed work on eight bills as well as two resolutions, three motions initiated by the government, one motion initiated by the Speaker, five motions initiated by parliamentarians, two emergency motions and six other motions.
Improved wages for Magistrates:
The motion initiated by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) was approved by the Parliament of Maldives.
The proposal was put forward for approval to the Parliamentary Committee. Following the review and approval by the committee, the annual expenditure on magistrate wages increased by USD240,000. It was passed with votes from 53 parliamentarians.
New allowance for Criminal Court judges:
A proposal by the Deparment of Judicial Administration— requesting a special allowance for Criminal Court Judges for a period of four months as efforts to clear the court’s backlog was also passed.
The proposal states that each judge will be provided a daily allowance of USD32 for each extra day worked.
Prices for POLCO and SIFCO flats in Hulhumale’
The Parliament approved the report by the Parliamentary Committee which recommends the government to lower the prices for POLCO and SIFCO fats in Hulhumale’.
The flats are being developed for personnel of the Maldives Police Service (MPS) and Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF). The project has been stalled for many years.
The parliament committee conducted an inquiry into the POLCO and SIFCO flats, to determine the causes of delays and to provide solutions. The project to work on the flats were awarded to Amin Construction Private Ltd. in Dec 2021.
The company was tasked with completing 361 flats within 8 months but Housing and Infrastructure Mohamed Aslam revealed the finishing works of POLCO flats are not expected to be completed by the given deadline.
Evidence Bill:
The Parliament passed the Evidence Bill to disclose the source of information through the courts.
The Attorney General’s Office proposed 15 amendments to the committee’s report on the bill containing 151 articles. Despite the amendments, the clause on disclosing the information source remained as part of the bill. The bill was passed by the Parliament with 50 votes in its favor. While five members voted against the bill, two members abstained from voting.
After reviewing several important bills, the Parliament of Maldives has gone to recess. The parliament will reconvene after recess during August. During the last annual term of the parliament, the parliament will focus on work on the state budget for 2023.
