Former TVHemm presenter files judicial protest against PM

Former TV presenter Norman Vella has filed a judicial protest against the Prime Minister and the Chief Permanent Secretary calling for the reason behind the termination of his deployment with Public Broadcasting Services. Mr Vella’s was some days ago reported saying that the decision to stop his secondment was political. The Office of the Prime Minister had insisted it was PBS that requested the revocation as the programme he presented, TVHemm, would not run in summer. In his protest, Mr Vella said he had been deployed to PBS on grounds of public policy on August 1, 2012 after five years on unpaid leave to try alternative employment. He said that during the period, he was production manager for the programmes Xarabank and Bijografiji, broadcast on PBS. He was informed that his deployment was being revoked on June 6 and it was actually revoked through an e-mail he received on June 26. Mr Vella argued that according to the Public Service Management Code deployed public officers could be redeployed within the public service following a request by the officer concerned or the entity, following the officer’s promotion to a higher grade or according to the exigencies of the service. It...