Kharon, a good post. Difficult to disagree. These are the same pressures all captains face every day, of course.
If, indeed in this instance that command prerogative is 'administratively' taken away; then command of the aircraft has been stolen and gifted, by the aircrew, to the clerical department.
That is the point surely. The LAW that gives the PIC authority and responsibility cannot be ignored or overridden by "policy" or culture SOPs. If an individual or company tries to do this then we end up with the situation Tiger had with their grounding.
My feeling is that there is more to this that we do not know (yet). A sacking is never undertaken lightly nowadays.