Parliament Finance Committee Approves Salary Hike for Chief Justice to MVR 95,125

The Parliament's Finance Committee has approved an increase in the salary and allowances for the Chief Justice, raising his total compensation to MVR 95,125, aligning it with the salary of the Speaker of Parliament. The decision was made during a committee meeting today, following a proposal by Funadhoo constituency MP Mohamed Mamdhoo. The proposal called for a review of the Chief Justice's current salary of MVR 91,000, suggesting an additional MVR 4,125 as a special allowance to bring the total to MVR 95,125. The committee unanimously passed the proposal, which comes after a similar decision last Wednesday to increase the Speaker's salary to over MVR 95,000. Currently, the Speaker receives MVR 73,125, while the Deputy Speaker receives MVR 91,000, and members receive MVR 82,500. This disparity arose because the Speaker cannot participate in committee meetings to earn attendance allowances. To address this, a proposal to add an MVR 22,000 allowance for the Speaker was submitted, which would bring his total salary to MVR 95,125. The government has faced criticism over these changes, and an urgent motion was submitted to Parliament yesterday regarding the salary increases. However, Speaker Abdul Raheem Abdullah rejected the motion, stating that it did not meet the conditions for an urgent matter.