High Court dismisses magistrate’s challenge against JSC lower court judge election
The High Court has dismissed a case filed by S. Hithadhoo Magistrate Court’s Magistrate Rafeeuddin Ahmed against the Department of Judicial Administration (DJA) seeking to stop an election held to elect a lower court judge to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).
Magistrate Rafeeuddin had filed the constitutional case against the DJA last Wednesday, attempting to stop the election scheduled for the following Saturday. In his petition, he argued that the DJA lacked the jurisdiction to formulate the rules for conducting the election, and sought a ruling confirming the same.
However, the High Court, led by Registrar Mariyam Hurshida, dismissed the case the next day, stating that the matter was not within the court’s jurisdiction at that stage. Therefore, the election took place as scheduled on Saturday.
Magistrate Rafeeuddin, who was a candidate for the JSC judge position, did not receive any votes in the election. Civil Court Judge Farhad Rasheed won the election, competing against four other judges.
