A group of police sergeants has filed a judicial protest claiming to have been twice wronged through an unjust and discriminatory selection process which denied them their right to be promoted to the rank of sergeant major.

The 28 officers filed the protest against the police commissioner, the Police Appeals Board, the Public Service Commission, the Minister for home affairs and and the Office of the Prime minister.

They claimed that they had responded to a call for application, issued in September 2013, to be promoted to the rank of Sergeant Major First and Second class. The call was open only to those who had "relevant and proven work experience."

The first circular published on behalf of the police commissioner, was then replaced by a second circular, bearing the same date and number as the first, wherein the work experience requisite was dropped.

The sergeants explained that although they had been called to an interview in October 2013, the criteria of assessment and the results were never communicated to them and were not made public.

When 13 sergeants were promoted in November 2013, news of the event was published on the national police system requesting those promoted to call at the police headquarters on November 15 at noon.

In May 2016 a second group was promoted to the rank of sergeant majors in an attempt to remedy the injustice which had allegedly been perpetrated three years earlier on account of the lack of transparency in the selection process. Yet once again, the plaintiffs said they were left out.

They argued that they had been twice wronged since even the subsequent remedy was granted in a discriminatory manner.

The officers claimed that not only were their promotion prospects affected, but even their income had suffered as a result of the discrimination.

Lawyer Joseph Bonello and PL Hilda Ellul Mercer signed the judicial protest.