GUWAHATI, June 25 - Senior journalist and president of Journalists� Association of Assam (JAA) DN Chakravartty, in a statement, has said that although Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) Chairman Rakesh Paul and his team do not have any constitutional obligation or legal compulsion to relinquish office, and the Government of Assam too cannot dismiss the Chairman and his team suddenly as in the case of other political and administrative appointments, yet, social propriety and public morality demand that Paul and his colleagues honourably quit their responsibilities submitting to the will of the people, as has been expressed through the Press and various other public forums in the last couple of years.
Chakravartty described as �affronting and bordering on audacity�, Paul�s action of openly defying the directive of the Chief Minister in respect of the submission of results within three hours. He said that it would be a misfortune for the community when a constitutional authority enjoying constitutional protection would indulge in recklessly causing harm to the entire community by selecting incompetent persons for government offices through a process which could not be said to be transparent.
Chakravartty said that while constitutional procedure would take time to dismiss Paul, public morality, social decency, code of ethics, and refinement of culture make it obligatory on the part of any public authority to relinquish office voluntarily after being exposed to such a vicious situation when the citizens of Assam have questioned the justification of continuation in office by Paul and his team. � Staff Reporter
