No further delay in the appointment and functioning of the Constitutional Council can be countenanced now that all the appropriate 'smaller parties' have agreed on retired Auditor General S. C. Mayadunne to fill the vacant tenth place, the Civil Rights Movement stressed in a statement issued recently.

The statement added that it has always been the view of the Civil Rights Movement (CRM) that the delay was inexcusable and that there were other options to make the function without a break. Now however, even the objections of those who claimed otherwise, have been set to rest.

It goes without saying that fresh appointments need to be made in place of those made directly by the President while the Council was not functioning. The suggestion has been made that such persons should be called upon to resign or be removed. The CRM however prefers to believe that such appointees will voluntarily resign as a matter of course. This sorry chapter in our constitutional history could then at least end on a hopeful note, CRM said.