A court case instituted by a senior army officer claiming discrimination when he was passed over for promotion will continue after a panel of three judges threw out the authorities’ claims that the case was time-barred.

Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri and Judges Tonio Mallia and Joseph Azzopardi confirmed on appeal a decision by the First Hall of the Civil Court that the court action had not been filed outside the window permissible at law.

They were ruling on an appeal filed by the Home Affairs Minister and the Commanding Officer of the Armed Forces of Malta.

The case was filed by Lt Col Andrew Mallia, who is insisting that on September 27, 2013, Pierre Vassallo, Mark Said, Jeffrey Curmi and Mark Mallia were promoted to colonel after having been promoted to lieutenant colonel just two weeks before.

The Commanding Officer of the time declared that he had not recommended the accelerated promotion and it was the responsible minister of the time, Manuel Mallia, who had taken the relevant decisions.

Lt Col Mallia said he had referred the matter to the President, in terms of the law, and in September 2015 he was told that the President had found no irregularity.

Lt Col Mallia is insisting the promotions were made in breach of the law and regulations, since no accelerated promotion had been recommended by the Commander and normal procedures were not observed.

In their preliminary objections to the case instituted by Lt Col Mallia, the Home Affairs Minister and the AFM Commanding Officer said, among other things, that the case was filed after six months had elapsed from September 2013 – when the promotions were given.

The first court ruled against this objection, saying the case was filed within the time limit from the President’s decision, which was the final decision on an administrative matter.

The appeals court agreed with this stance, adding that it was this final decision that effectively refuted Lt Col Mallia’s complaint that he had been passed over for a  promotion.

Lawyer Andrew Borg Cardona represented Lt Col Mallia.

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