The head civil servant at the Human Rights Commission (HRC) has resigned following complaints about his work ? just weeks after the chairman of the Government board also stepped down.

Executive officer David Wilson handed his notice in after a report on him was passed to John Drinkwater, the secretary to the Cabinet, following a disciplinary hearing.

Mr. Drinkwater, head of the civil service, told : ?I prefer not to comment on disciplinary matters in the civil service but I am able to say that Mr. Wilson has tendered his resignation and he is no longer the executive officer to the Human Rights Commission.?

Mr. Wilson?s resignation comes after Rod Attride-Stirling, then chairman of the HRC, called for jobs to be lost over the Commission?s repeated failure to produce annual reports in compliance with the Human Rights Act. The last annual report for the HRC was filed in 2001 and a report for 2005, which should have been presented to the Minister for Community Affairs by the June, has not been delivered.

Mr. Attride-Stirling stepped down as chairman in June. Prior to that, he told this newspaper: ?The people who are supposed to put the report together are the administrative staff. ?The Commissioners have been pushing and pleading to get staff to file the report. The fact that no one has lost their job over this says a lot about the way the civil service operates.?

Community Affairs Minister Dale Butler said last month that he hoped the situation regarding Mr. Wilson ? whom he said was a personal friend of his ? would be resolved quickly. Mr. Butler said this weekend: ?David Wilson?s letter of resignation was received by the acting permanent secretary and I have not seen it.

?At the moment the human rights board continues in spite of the resignations of the executive officer and three board members.?

The HRC was criticised recently after dismissing complaints about Premier Alex Scott and PLP Senator David Burch. It found that Mr. Scott had not breached the Human Rights Act in an e-mail he mistakenly sent to entertainer Tony Brannon which said he was tired of ?taking crap? from people who ?look and sound like Brannon?.

And it ruled that Sen. Burch?s use of the term ?house nigger? on his radio show was, though distasteful, not illegal.

Jamahl Simmons, Opposition spokesman said last night:?The instability and leadership is one issue but I think it?s also about gaining confidence that they have the teeth and the will to implement the law. ?I?m concerned about the overall public perception of the HRC. Going back a number of years it would be assumed that if you had been wronged they are not going to do anything about it.?

Crown Counsel Graveney Bannister will stand-in as executive officer at the HRC for three months. Mr. Wilson could not be contacted for comment yesterday.