Maldives Judicial Service Commission sets seven-day minimum to advertise judgeships

The Judicial Service Commission has fixed a minimum advertising period for judicial vacancies, requiring that posts of judge be opened to applicants for no fewer than seven official days. The change is carried in Regulation 2026/R-90, published in the Government Gazette of the Maldives on 29 October 2026, and it takes effect from the date of publication.

Regulation 2026/R-90 is described in the Gazette as the first amendment to Regulation 2026/R-40, the regulation on the procedure to be followed in recruiting and appointing judges to the courts of the Maldives. It was issued from Malé by the Judicial Service Commission and appears in issue No. 160 of volume 55 of the Gazette, dated 29 October 2026, corresponding to 18 Jumada al-Ula 1448.

The amending instrument is brief, with two operative provisions, but it reaches the first step of every judicial hiring process: the public announcement through which candidates learn that a judgeship is open.

Seven official days to apply

Under the amendment, Article 7(b) of Regulation 2026/R-40 is rewritten. The Gazette text provides that when the Commission advertises a vacancy for the post of judge, the announcement must grant a period of at least seven official days for candidates to come forward. The requirement:

• covers the announcement of vacancies for the post of judge;
• sets a floor of seven official days, not a target or a maximum;
• is written into the article of Regulation 2026/R-40 that governs the advertising of judicial posts;
• benefits every candidate applying for judicial office in the courts of the Maldives.

The wording converts what had been a scheduling decision into a binding minimum: a judicial vacancy cannot be closed to applications before seven official days have elapsed from the announcement.

Supreme Court exempted

The same clause carves out one court. The seven-day minimum does not apply to the recruitment of judges to the Supreme Court of Maldives, which the amendment expressly exempts from the new advertising period.

The Gazette text gives no reason for the exemption and sets no alternative period for the apex court, leaving vacancies there to be handled under the remaining provisions of Regulation 2026/R-40. In practice, the new floor therefore governs announcements for every court of the Maldives other than the Supreme Court of Maldives.

Entry into force

The second provision of the amendment states that it begins to apply from the date the regulation is published in the Government Gazette, that is, 29 October 2026. No transitional window is mentioned, so the seven-day floor applies to vacancies announced from that date onward.

What it means for candidates and courts

For lawyers seeking judicial office, the amendment establishes a guaranteed window in which to prepare and file an application, replacing an arrangement in which the length of an announcement was left to the body running the recruitment. For the Judicial Service Commission, it imposes a uniform timetable across the court system while preserving flexibility for the country’s highest court.

Source: Gazette of the Government of Maldives, No. 160, 29 October 2026, vol. 55, section I (official reference: 2026/R-90).