RaajjeMV has learnt that the Civil Court has ceased sending court summons to Villingilli and Hulhumale', due to budget deficiency.

Officials of the Civil Court, on condition of anonymity, told RaajjeMV that sending court summons to individuals in Villimale' and Hulhumale had been halted "due to lack of funds."

The officials said that the Court does not have the funds to even buy ferry tickets.

Villingilli is located two kilometers from the west of the capital city while Hulhumale is five kilometers away. It takes a 10-minute ferry ride to get to Villimale' and 20 minutes to Hulhumale' and ferry services operate for 24 hours. A one-way ticket to Villimale' is MVR 3.25 and to MVR 5.50 (sans any vehicles) to Hulhumale'.

Noting that it has been "around two-weeks" since they were forced to do so, one official noted that there have been difficulties in providing "some basic necessities" for its employees, as well as various other expenses.

"There is a lot that has been halted due to budget deficiency. Some days there is no water even, and the issues keep piling up," said the official.

RaajjeMV was unable to get an official comment from the Civil Court, at the time of publishing.

While the Department of Judiciary Administration (DJA) had originally submitted MVR 475 million to the Ministry of Finance and Treasury, as the estimated budget for the judiciary sector 2017, the Ministry revised the sum to MVR 367 million, before sending it for parliament approval.