Panaji, May 20 (IANS) The Goa chief electoral officer (CEO) and his assistant are 'professionally delinquent and morally inept' to hold the public office, a legislative committee said Wednesday.
The admonition of the election officials by the ad hoc legislative committee, formed to discuss issues related to the home department, comes less than 24 hours after the notification lifting the poll code in the state was issued.
CEO Ajit Srivastava and assistant CEO Arvind Bugde are 'professionally delinquent and morally inept to hold public office in such senior capacities in the government', alleged the committee chaired by Leader of Opposition in assembly Manohar Parrikar.
Reprimanding the executives for encroaching on legislatures' turf, the committee directed the chief secretary to make a mention of its admonition of the two officials in their respective annual confidential reports (ACR).
'On May 14, the officers through a letter had asked all state government officials to seek clearance from the Election Commission of India (ECI) for appearance before the committee,' said Parrikar, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader.
The letter was also approved by Home Minister Ravi Naik, he said.
He further alleged that Srivastava and Bugde had ignored the fragile balance of power between various organs of the state.
The committee also hinted at possible political sabotage against the committee system of the Goa legislative assembly by thwarting the basic principle of executive accountability to the legislature.
'The committee has referred the issue of any action of the home minister to the committee of privileges for possibility of a political sabotage,' Parrikar said.
During the course of the Lok Sabha election campaign the opposition party, the BJP in general and Parrikar in particular, had been severely critical of the state election officials, who he alleged were not behaving in a 'fair manner'.
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