A court ruled today that the process for the appointment of new police superintendents may continue once an inspector who is under suspension had refused to apply.

The court took a partial decision in an application filed by Police Inspector Jeffrey Cilia to stop the process for the appointment of superintendents pending proceedings against him.

The inspector instituted the case against the Commissioner of Police and the Attorney General. He asked the court to order his reinstatement, payment of damages and that he should be made eligible for promotion to superintendent.

The court heard that Inspector Cilia was suspended on half pay after he was arraigned before the Magistrates’ Court in late 2011 in connection with an incident in a Paceville nightclub.

A call for applications by inspectors for promotion to superintendent was issued in mid-2012 but it was subsequently frozen after a court, at Inspector Cilia’s request, issued a temporary warrant of prohibitory injunction. The inspector was subsequently invited to submit his own application, but he refused to do so.

The court said today that his decision not to apply had negated his request for the issue of a warrant to stop the promotions process and now he had no right to be considered as eligible for the selection process.  He was in the same position as other inspectors who chose not to apply.

He could not stop the promotions process until his court case was decided, because the two issues were separate from each other.

The court therefore ordered that the promotions process could continue, and the court case by the inspector over his suspension would also proceed.