Wednesday 04 Nov 2026
Inside Judicial Services Commission office.
The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has announced the vacancy for the post that will open next month in the Supreme Court, even as a High Court judge position has remained vacant for two months.
The JSC on Wednesday opened applications for a Supreme Court judge following its decision to retire Justice Ali Rasheed from next month.
However, one of the High Court seats has been vacant since the retirement of High Court Justice Ibrahim Mahir on September 6 last year. Despite the vacancy, the JSC has not yet announced recruitment for the post. The High Court has been operating with 10 judges for two months, although the law requires a total of 11 judges. The High Court also handles many times more cases than the Supreme Court.
In its announcement, the JSC said that under Article 148(a) of the Maldivian Constitution, applications for the vacant Supreme Court seat have been opened in accordance with Article 17(b) of the Judiciary Act (Law No. 2010/13). Applications must be submitted before 10:00 am on Sunday. The basic salary of a Supreme Court judge is MVR 59,700 per month, with a living allowance of MVR 25,000 and a risk allowance of MVR 3,300.
The Supreme Court is the only court that can stop, alter or validate major government actions, such as the dispute on Rasmale’ project, land laws, treaty interpretation, jurisdiction issues, election disputes, state powers, appointments, removals and even referendum questions. Therefore, it is safe to speculate that a president must ensure this bench is fully staffed so cases cannot stall or be decided by a weakened bench.
