Inconsistency 100. The Constitution stipulates to uphold Islamic Shari’ah in the Maldives. Nevertheless, there is no single version or text on Islamic Shari’ah that is codified and readily available for reference. Therefore, despite the fact that Maldives pursues Islamic Shari’ah there are inconsistencies in applying Shari’ah law. There have been incidents that some of the absolute rulings given in the Shari’ah are strictly abided by the judiciary while the others are not. 102. The State must codify and harmonize Shari’ah Law and common law in accordance with the Constitution and enact important laws leaving no room for inconsistencies in judicial decision making. Delays and Denials of Justice 103. Delaying and denying of justice is another persisting issue in the judiciary. There is a need to increase the capacity of the judicial system to efficiently administer case load in order to speed up the judicial process. An average of 20‐30 cases is being submitted to Civil Court daily for prosecution which was handled by eight judges and only 30‐40 cases reach a verdict per month (i.e. 1‐2 cases per day). Juvenile court currently has only one judge who has to handle all the juvenile delinquent cases including the administrations related to them. 104. Statistics of Judicial Sector shows that number of pending cases increase year to year, and HRCM notes that there are backlog of cases in the courts, some of which have been pending in the courts for years. At the end of 2008, there were 1031 cases pending in Criminal Court which increased to 1240 cases by the end of 2009 and to 1766 cases by the end of 2010. 105. HRCM was informed that one of the reasons for backlog of cases in Criminal Court is the inability of the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) to assign lawyers to criminal cases. It appears that lawyers refuse to accept cases from PGO on retainer basis as the lawyer’s fees Chapter: Article 14: Equality before the Law & Article 26: Legal Protection of the Law 101. Some Judges and Lawyers have informed that inconsistency in judicial decision‐making at the trial and appellate levels is common in the judiciary of Maldives. There are no specific procedures and regulations on the acceptance of evidence submitted to the courts; it is solely left at the discretion of the judge to decide to give importance to evidence or confession of the person prosecuted. Different judges give precedence to different facts in the same kind of prosecutions. Some Judges informed HRCM that, even after discussing the case with one another, often judges are unable to come to the same agreement and decision on a verdict in similar cases. 45