Supreme Court of the Maldives has issued a practice direction on standardising court sentences on civil cases. The practice direction was issued in accordance with the Civil Procedure Code, which requires courts to give rulings by the same standards.
In the practice direction signed by Chief Justice Ahmed Muthasim Adnan, the Supreme Court stated that courts should count sentences of more than seven days by disregarding the starting and ending date and including government holidays as part of the sentencing period. It also stated that sentences of less than seven days should be counted by disregarding the starting and ending date as well as government holidays.
Additionally, the Supreme Court stated that if the end of a sentence falls on a government holiday, any mandatory injunction that is required to be completed during the sentencing period can be completed on the day after the holiday in which the court can continue proceedings. The court is also required to set the specific time and date the injunction is to be completed.