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Attorney General Usham pictured while being in the cabinet meeting - Photo: President Office

MALÉ: The Ministry of Construction, Housing and Infrastructure will no longer make direct unilateral decisions on long-standing housing and land allocation disputes, Housing Minister Dr. Abdulla Muththalib announced.

Instead, all complex or unfulfilled housing cases involving public grievances will be referred to the Office for Civil Rights, operating under the Attorney General’s Office.

“Given that housing issues are sensitive matters deeply connected to individual citizens, we have decided to act with maximum transparency and fairness,” Minister Muththalib stated. He noted that future decisions on disputed housing files will strictly align with instructions issued by the AG office.

The policy shift follows public scrutiny over an internal ministry memo leaked online detailing a decision to sell a 1,250-square-foot plot in Hulhumalé Phase 2 to an elderly citizen, Ahmed Zahir, at a heavily discounted rate of MVR 468,750.

Clarifying the background, the ministry stated that the transaction was arranged to resolve a 23-year-old administrative oversight. Records show Zahir was originally allocated a plot under a 2003 housing scheme operated by the then-Ministry of Home Affairs, Housing, and Environment, but despite partial payments and decades of appeals across successive administrations, the government failed to hand over the land. To rectify the long-standing injustice, the current administration offered Zahir a repossessed, vacant plot in Hulhumalé at the originally agreed-upon valuation, contingent on him relinquishing rights to a separate plot awarded under the Binveriyaa scheme.

Amid public debate regarding land valuation and administrative procedures, the Housing Ministry proactively requested the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and legal advisors to review whether proper protocols were followed before completing the handover.