The Supreme Court has said that refusing to follow a decision made by a superior court violates the constitution and violates the Judges Act.

The Supreme Court’s statement comes after Civil Court Judge Mohamed Naeem said he would not accept cases concerning the state because the parliament had not then decided whether to give consent to reappointed Attorney General Dr Ahmed Ali Sawad.

Sawad has now been dismissed by the parliament for the second time, following his second reappointment by President Mohamed Nasheed.

The Supreme Court’s statement said that judges should at all times avoid any matters that could harm the reputation of the judiciary or cause people to lose confidence in the justice system.

The court also noted that it was against the code of conduct of the judges to disobey a decision made by a superior court.

The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has formed a sub-committee to investigate judge Naeem after he told the press that he had decided not to accept cases concerning the state, despite the High Court’s decision to accept cases.

Judge Naeem revealed that the Civil Court judges were split on the issue, however the majority of the judges said they wanted to accept and conduct trials of cases concerning the state despite the fact that Dr Sawad’s appointment procedure was then not completed.

President’s Member of the JSC, Aishath Velezinee, has stated on her Article 285 blog that “Judge Naeem has been under investigation since the interim Commission, [for] nearly two years. No updates on the investigation [have been] tabled despite the legal requirement that a report must be submitted in writing every 30 days.”