Fifty-six senior police officers this morning filed judicial proceedings against the Commissioner of Police for unpaid overtime hours while on duty during last year's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and the Valletta Migration Summit.

The applicants, who are all high-ranking officers above the rank of inspector, claimed that although they had been ordered by their superior to report for duty "very much in excess" of their normal 46-hour working week, they had still not received their remuneration for overtime.

The court was told the officers had been ordered to work over 150 overtime hours, even though they are entitled to a disturbance allowance capped at 10 per cent of their basic salary. One inspector speaking to Times of Malta explained that the disturbance allowance works out to around €1 per hour of overtime.

According to the same source, the maximum payout under the disturbance allowance is €170, but some officers are reportedly claiming to be owed more than €2,000 for the extra hours they had worked during the events.

Following several formal requests for payment which apparently fell on deaf ears, the disgruntled officers decided to take their grievance to court.

The applicants said they felt offended when last March a public statement was issued declaring that police officers below the rank of inspector had been paid for the CHOGM and Valletta summit overtime duty whereas those higher ranking officers were left in the dark.

Some inspectors are understood to have worked in excess of 500 hours during the events and the global amount of unpaid overtime is estimated to be in the region of €70,000.

Lawyer Robert Abela signed the application.