Malé, Maldives – The Civil Court on Tuesday, has ordered for the state to compensate a driver, whose vehicle was confiscated during a protest back in 2012, by over MVR 60,000.
The pickup confiscated back in 2012 during a MDP protest was held in Maldives Police Service custody for over 3 months. The driver filed a case against the state as the confiscation of the vehicle led to an obstruction in the driver’s income. The court in 2013 ordered for MVR 170,000 to be paid to the driver. However, this decision was later overturned by the High Court in 2014.
The case was reopened at the Civil Court and the verdict passed last week states that the state must compensate the driver for 41 days for which the vehicle was in police custody. They added that the payment will be made for 8 hours for each day at the rate of MVR 180 per hour. This amounts to a total of MVR 59,000 to be paid to the driver. This amount increased to MVR 63,000 with additional MVR 4050 for repairs to the damages received to the vehicle.
The Civil Court ordered for this amount to be paid to the court within one month. The previous amount of MVR 170,000 decided by the court in 2013 was for a period of 3 months and 12 with lawyer fees also included. However, the High Court decided that attempts were made to return the vehicle before 3 months and that lawyer fees cannot be charged as there is no agreement.
