The amount reduced from civil servants pay this year constitutes “a debt owed to civil servants by the government” which had to be paid back, Kendhoo MP Ahmed Thasmeen Ali has said.
At an opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party rally in Gaaf Alif Villigili on Friday, the party’s newly elected leader said if the government refuses, the DRP would make sure that funds were allocated in next year’s budget to pay back civil servants.
Last month, the civil court ruled that the finance ministry did not have the authority to overrule the Civil Service Commission on determining salaries and allowances of civil servants.
While the commission ordered government ministries to prepare salary sheets to give out the restored salaries from January onward, the finance ministry has insisted that the “special economic circumstances” that warranted pay cuts in October last year had not passed.
“It is a debt owed to civil servants by the Maldivian government,” said Thasmeen. “It has to be paid back sometime. This is very clear in legal terms. The legal framework of the country does not allow the government to chip away at salaries whenever they want.”
The attorney general’s office has lodged an appeal at the High Court challenging the civil court ruling. The High Court has issued a preliminary injunction ordering all parties involved to restrain from any course of action until its final deliberation.
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