A police union is calling on its members to skip disciplinary board hearings involving panel member Joe Cordina, whom it says is "impartial".

It said in a statement on Wednesday, the Malta Police Union said it had written to the Police Commissioner to "immediately" remove Joe Cordina from the board, which hears internal cases of breach of discipline.

The union said that Cordina recently commented on a social media post "once again showing he is not impartial and expresses his opinion on police officers in public without any diligence to his sensitive position".

In a Facebook post, Cordina said the police were not shouldering responsibility for work that they were passing on to the local enforcement agency LESA.

"Further to our request for the immediate removal of Cordina as a member of the disciplinary board, the union is issuing the following directives to its members as a measure to safeguard their rights during internal disciplinary sittings when the same person is sitting on the board.

"When the case is called and the defaulter or witness is informed or notices that Cordina is part of the board that will hear the case, our member shall immediately leave the hall or place where the sitting is being conducted without giving an explanation."

The directives, it said, were applicable with immediate effect ahead of a sitting on February 20.