Nizam sues over dismissal from post of PSC chairman

Nizam Mohammed has filed a lawsuit seeking to prove that President Max Richards acted against the constitution when he revoked Mohammed's appointment as chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC).

Richards fired Mohammed in April this year following controversial remarks made by Mohammed to a Parliamentary committee about the ethnic composition of the police service.

Mohammed is contending that the president never gave him a chance to defend himself and that Richards acted as a result of political pressure. 

He is arguing that under these circumstances the decision of Richards should be declared null and void. His constitutional challenge names the Attorney General as the defendant.

Mohammed is saying that the PSC is intended to be an autonomous body under the constitution and cannot be influenced by politicians.

In stating his case Mohammed said three days after he appeared before the parliamentary committee the Office of the Prime Minister issued a statement which stated, in part, that Mohammed "must be held accountable for his inflammatory and unwise statements".

He said the next day the Leader of the Opposition demanded that the president revoke his appointment for "acting irresponsibly".

Mohammed said President Richards met with him on april 1 and told him that his reference to ethnic imbalance in the Police Service at the highest rank was "outside the remit" of the PSC and amounted to "irresponsibility".

Three days later the Government Information Services Ltd issued a media release, stating that his appointment as chairman of the PSC had been revoked.