Norman Vella, the former presenter of TVHemm, has instituted a case before the Employment Commission against the Prime Minister and the Principal Permanent Secretary claiming political discrimination in the way he was re-deployed from PBS.

In his application he noted that there had been no reply to a judicial protest he filed on July 17 when he complained that his deployment from PBS had been revoked.

Mr Vella had been deployed to PBS in August 2012 ‘on grounds of public policy’.  He was on unpaid leave, during which time he worked as production manager for programmes which also included Xarabank and Bijografiji.

Mr Vella noted that in terms of the Public Service Management Code, public officers who were deployed with public entities may be redeployed following a request by the officer concerned; following a request by the entity; or following the officer’s promotion to a higher grade within the public service.

Moreover, the Administration may effect redeployment within the public service according to the exigencies of the service (demand driven).

Mr Vella said none of these parameters had applied in his case, as neither he nor PBS had made such a request. He had been given no promotion, and there was no exigency of service.

Mr Vella said this redeployment had spelled the end of his career, which had been built following a University course and training as a journalist,

His redeployment went against the principle of meritocracy, as proved by his record and his redeployment was the fruit of political discrimination.

THREAT

Mr Vella recalled that when he was production manager for Xarabank, during a meeting with Dr Muscat, then leader of the Opposition, in and the presence of other Labour officials, Dr Muscat had warned him and the presenter that: “For every blow that we feel you are striking the Labour Party, I will strike you twice, with all my strength, under the belt, where it hurts.”

Mr Vella said that before the general election, he was the target of numerous political attacks, some of them on the Labour Party’s newspapers.

Before the election, a senior official of the ministry responsible for PBS had told people that he did not want to see him (Vella) continue his broadcasting career.

The attacks on the Labour media continued with even personal information on his conditions of work being disclosed.

In the weeks before his redeployment took place, his personal file disappeared from PBS and later turned up at the Police Department, before he started to work there. The file had not been sent thereby PBS but by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

While the Labour Party newspaper had described his PBS deployment as a privilege, following his redeployment, the same procedure was used for a woman who was very close to the PL and who had now started working for  PBS presenting a daily programme.

Mr Vella asked the Commission to declare that he was a victim of political discrimination and to give the required remedies.

Dr Andrew Borg Cardona signed the application.