Legal Counsel to the President Ahmed Abdulla Afeef has stated settling cases of compensation out of court reduces the cost to the state.
At a press conference at the President's Office, Legal Counsel Afeef said the state is involved in many court cases involving compensation, many of which are a result of the previous government terminating numerous agreements without legal cause. Afeef said there are 50 such cases currently in court and the current government aims to solve the issues of compensation fairly with the affected parties, adding the state is willing to settle out of court in cases where the agreements were terminated unjustly, and has settled with 3 parties thus far.
Afeef said the decision to come to a settlement in these cases was made by Attorney General Ibrahim Riffath, and that the cost of settlement is much lower than the cost of proceeding within the courts. The legal counsel said justice for the affected parties does not have to come from the courts, noting the President formed a committee on January 27, 2019, to settle cases quickly instead of going through long trials.
However, Afeef said the parliament's decision to not allow cases to be settled before the end of three stages of trial has been a huge setback. He further noted the failure to pass the Civil Procedure Bill in 2020 was another setback for the government to settle cases of state compensation in a fair and transparent manner.