The debate on changes to the order of precedence, which the Chief Justice complained about, was no longer based on principles but technicalities, a spokesman for the civil service head, Mario Cutajar, said yesterday.

Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri said at a public function earlier this week that his office had been “relegated” to fifth place in the order of precedence behind the President, the Prime Minister, the Speaker and the Archbishop.

The changes were made after the Parliamentary Services Act was approved in August. In a letter to The Malta Independent yesterday, Dr Camilleri argued that the law was not even in force yet.

The Chief Justice is still in the first category of the precedence list. Judges retained their position and magistrates moved up a number of places

A spokesman for the Principal Permanent Secretary said the fact that the relative legal notice linked to the law had not yet been published was a mere technicality. This did not negate the fact that Parliament had passed the legislation and the President had given her consent to it, the spokesman said.

He pointed out that the Chief Justice was still in the first category of the precedence list. Judges had retained their position and magistrates moved up a number of places in the precedence list to reflect their responsibilities, the spokesman added.

Dr Camilleri was widely expected to vacate his post earlier this year after the government nominated him to the European Court of Justice.

However, the plans were derailed when the Chief Justice failed the screening process for the post.

In a traditional exchange of greetings meeting with President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca on Tuesday, Dr Camilleri said that the end of 2016 had left a bitter taste for the judiciary because of the treatment it had received from the government.

He lamented that the government had changed the order of precedence without even bothering to inform the judiciary.

Contacted for his reaction to the Chief Justice’s latest comments, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Anġlu Farrugia, said that he did not wish to be drawn into controversies that had nothing to do with him.

He said he had no control over changes to the order of precedence, adding that the Parliamentary Services Act had been approved unanimously.

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