23
561
سلنس
COELIC
PECORD OFFICE
Reference -
C.O.882/12
COPYRİGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
RI
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE. LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
Article 68.
No person other than a Maldivian shall be made Minister.
Article 69. All the orders issued from the Council of Ministers must bear the signature of the Prime Minister as well as the signature of the Minister to whose department such orders relate.
Article 70. Ministers are individually responsible for the proper administration of the departments under his charge, and will be answerable to the Council of Ministers for acts involving loss to Government.
Article 71. Council of Ministers will be held responsible for decrees issued under the seal of the Sultan as such decrees are issued on the advice of the Ministers.
Article 72. If a Minister is questioned by the Legislative Council on any matter under his charge, he must fully explain the matter to the Council. Such questions and explanations must be put and answered in writing.
Article 73. If a Minister is unable to attend his office for some reason, he shall delegate his work to his chief assistant, but he is not authorized to send him to the Council to represent him.
Article 74. No Minister while holding office is permitted to buy any share of a trading concern, or send out to islands goods for trade in his name, or conduct business in a shop.
Article 75. If a vote of no confidence is passed by the Legislative Council in the Council of Ministers, it is encumbent on the Ministers to report the fact to the Sultan and place their resignations in his hands. The Sultan shall then proceed for the election of a new Council of Ministers, as provided for in Article 67. Until a new Council of Ministers is formed the old Council shall carry on the Government.
Artcle 76. If a vote of no confidence is passed in any one of the Ministers, it is his duty to report the fact to the Sultan and resign his post. The Sultan will thereupon summon the rest of the Ministers, who will elect a new Minister with the approval of the Sultan.
Article 77. The Legislative Council is empowered to inquire into the irregular acts of the Council of Ministers or of any individual Minister. Such irregular acts shall be regarded as proved if passed by two-thirds of the members.
Article 78. If a Minister other than the Prime Minister is accused of any serious charge in the Legislative Council, such charges shall be inquired into before the follow- ing Board of Inquiry.
(1) The Prime Minister,
(2) Officiating Chief Judge of the High Court,
(3) The Government Naibu,
(4) The Chief Naibu, and
(5) Four members of the Legislative Council.
If the Prime Minister is accused of such an offence the Board shall consist of two Ministers in place of the Prime Minister, in addition to other members.
If a charge is brought against the Sultan then the Board of inquiry shall consist, in addition to the members already mentioned, two male members of the Royal Family.
Article 79. If the charges are proved against the persons named, then the sentence shall be in strict accordance with the rules laid down for such acts. If there is no specific rules for the offences of which the persons were charged, then the nearest rules applicable to such offences shall be applied, or new rules made to suit the offences. Article 80. Two-thirds of the members of the Board of Inquiry above named must confirm the punishment appropriate for such offences.
Article 81. At every combined annual meeting of the Legislative Council and the Peoples Assembly the Minister of Finance shall submit the public accounts of the past year and the Budget for the ensuing year.
Article 82. Any cash balance left after the Budget is passed, the Sultan and the members of the Council of Ministers shall take an account of the cash and deposit them in the public Treasury. To take out anything from it, the same procedure should be adopted. The three keys of the three locks of the Treasury must be, one key in charge of the Sultan, one key in charge of the Prime Minister, and one key in charge of the Minister of Finance. This Treasury shall be open only at the command and in the presence of the Sultan.
Article 83. Administrators of Shariat law shall have absolute independence as long as they do not infringe the State laws. No one else shall interfere with their judicial work.
Article 84. Special regulations shall be framed showing the list of islands where the Shariat law officers shall have their jurisdiction, their powers, and privileges.
Article 85. Dismissal of Shariat law officers and their transference from one place
to another must be done in accordance with State laws.
Article 86. In any kind of Shariat law, suitors shall have liberty to be represented by their vakils provided they are versed in Shariat and the laws of the Maldives.
Article 87. Serious cases affecting exile and capital punishment must be decided before a jury.
Article 88.
Before taking his seat, every member of the Legislative Council shall take the following oath :—
"I swear by the Almighty God, that I shall be faithful to the Maldives, its Ruler and serve the Government honestly and will be faithful to its Constitution, and will not infringe the rights of the people.'
12
Article 89. Every member of the Council of Ministers shall, in addition to the oath already described for them, swear to faithfully carry out the duties of the Depart- ments entrusted to his care.
Article 90. At the convocation of the annual meeting of the Peoples Assembly, the President and the Vice-President shall be elected by the votes of two-thirds of its members.
Article 91. Qualifications of members of the Peoples Assembly :-
(1) He must be twenty-five years.
(2) He must be able to talk with reason.
*-
(3) He must be able to read and write Arabic and Maldivian characters. (4) He must have thorough knowledge of the people and place he represents. Article 92. In accordance with the rules of the Constitution for the first term of
five years, the Sultan shall nominate twenty-one members for the Legislative Council and the Prime Minister for its members. Then the Prime Minister shall, with the approval of the Sultan, nominate other. Ministers from the members of the Legislative Council.
Article 93.
Administrative Departments of Government.
(1) Department of Prime Minister.
(2) Department of Minister of Finance.
(3) Department of Minister of Justice.
(4) Department of Minister of Home Affairs.
(5) Department of Minister for Foreign Affairs.
(6) Department of Minister of Commerce.
(7) Department of Minister of Army.
(8) Department of Minister of Education.
(9) Department of Minister of Health.
(10) Department of Minister of Public Works.
ら
(11) Department of Minister of Religious Endowments (Wakf).
(12) Department of Minister of Agriculture.
Article 94. After the Sultan has given his assent to the terms of the Constitution,
and the Legislative Council is formed and the Ministers are appointed, other rules and regulations shall be made.
Article 95. No regulations could be made against the terms of the Constitution. If any modification, deletion, or addition of any clause or clauses are found to be necessary such a thing could only be made at a special meeting of the members of the Legislative Council, Peoples Assembly, the learned, the respectable people then residing in Malé and in the presence of the Sultan by a vote of two-thirds of the members of the special Council.
"
Lillahil-amr-min-gabli wa min baud.”
These copies were finished on the 5th day of the month of Safar, 1350 Hijra. corresponding to 22nd June, 1931.
15th July, 1931:
YOUR HIGHNESS,
Enclosure 2 in No. 7. Government Lodge,
Colombo, Ceylon, 10th October, 1931.
I HAVE the honour to inform Your Highness that I have received from the Maldivian Government Representative in Ceylon a translation of a draft constitutional document making provision for a new Constitution for the Maldive Islands. Subse- quently Mr. Didi extended to me on behalf of Your Highness an invitation to comment