President-elect Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has stated that Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has to undergo changes and should be moved under the Department of Judicial Administration (DJA) as before.

In an exclusive interview with One Media yesterday, Dr. Muizzu said he would free the judiciary and independent institutions from influence and would not wait until the end of his term to do so. He added that although the government will not have a majority in the parliament in the first half of next year, if the current parliament cooperates, the judiciary will be reformed soon.

"I believe that there should be changes in this JSC Act. JSC needs to be free from political influence so that JSC would have public trust. JSC leadership should not be easily influenced politically, which is why DJA needs to play a bigger role to maintain check and balance," Dr. Muizzu said.

He said his government would be allocate a certain percent of housing projects to judicial employees. Dr. Muizzu added that this would ensure more independence for the judiciary as well instead of having to pay hefty rents.

Dr. Muizzu said he planned to carry out a number of such reforms to ensure the independence of the judiciary, adding that once all of them were completed, the interference to the judicial staff would stop.

He further stated that the president's office will not interfere with the judiciary during his term, nor will any other government employee be allowed to interfere with the judiciary and such interference will be curbed.

Dr. Muizzu said he would "come up with an intermediate solution" if the judiciary was interfered with, adding that he did not want his government to be labelled as a government with judicial interference.