By Skandha Gunasekara The amendments to the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) would most likely include an amendment increasing the minimum age of marriage for female Muslims to 18 years. State Minister of Social Empowerment Seyed Ali Zahir Moulana told The Sunday Morning that the report of the committee headed by Justice Saleem Marsoof was handed over to Justice Minister Thalatha Athukorala and a meeting on the report was held at the Parliament complex on Friday. The Minister said that the report recommended that the Act be amended to stipulate the minimum age of marriage for Muslim females to be between 16 and 18 years of age. However, he added that a majority, including the Chairman of the Committee, had suggested that the minimum age be set at 18. He said that another recommendation was that the Quazi courts be upgraded to ensure that its constituents had “competent individuals who had basic judicial knowledge”. “We have to now determine what qualifications an individual has when he is appointed to the Quazi court. Whether it be a lawyer, judge, or principal as well as the age and minimum academic qualifications will have to be decided,” Minister Moulana said. He said that another meeting would be held at the parliamentary complex during the next sitting week to discuss the report with the participation of senior female professionals from the Muslim community, Muslim political leaders including Minister Rauff Hakeem, Minister Rishard Bathiudeen, and A.H.M. Fowzie, as well as representatives from the Justice Ministry. The Minister said that once the Sectoral Oversight Committee had passed the report, the Justice Minister would prepare the final draft which would then be presented to the Cabinet of Ministers for approval. Thereafter, it would be forwarded to Parliament for the amendment of the Act.