Officials are whispering that the committee set up during the DMK regime under the chairmanship of retired Supreme Court judge Kurian Joseph to examine issues related to Centre-State relations is being shelved by the TVK government, and that it is not showing interest in obtaining the committee’s report.
During the previous DMK regime, when M.K. Stalin was Chief Minister, in April 2025 he announced a “high-level committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge Kurian Joseph to study the relationship between the Union and State governments.” Retired IAS officer Ashok Vardhan Shetty and former Planning Commission member M. Naganathan were appointed as members of that committee.
The then Chief Minister M.K. Stalin made this announcement in the Legislative Assembly under Rule 110. He also announced that this committee would submit an interim report in January 2026. Accordingly, this committee, headed by Kurian Joseph, submitted an interim report consisting of 10 chapters last February. The DMK government also placed this report before the MLAs in the Legislative Assembly. This committee was also given a deadline to complete the remaining work and submit the next report by May 2027.
In the general election held last April, the DMK was defeated and the TVK government came to power. Since TVK formed the government and Vijay became Chief Minister, there has been talk that the Tamil Nadu government is not cooperating with the work of this committee. Following this, in September, the Leader of the Opposition Udhayanidhi said, “It is condemnable that the ruling party has taken up the task of stalling the high-level committee set up by the government led by our leader M.K. Stalin to study relations between the Union and State governments under the chairmanship of retired Justice Kurian Joseph.
Reports have emerged that the committee is facing difficulties in continuing its work due to a shortage of staff.
As a result, this Dummy government has created a situation in which the researchers and research students who were preparing the committee’s second study report on state autonomy are unable to continue their work," he had sharply criticized.
Minister Vanni Arasu, from the VCK, which is in alliance with the TVK, had also requested during his introductory speech in the Assembly that "the government should cooperate so that the committee headed by Kurian Joseph can continue its work."
In a situation where the issue that the government is not providing cooperation to the Kurian Joseph committee has already become controversial, officials say that the government’s lack of interest in the committee continues. Some officials from the Secretariat who spoke to us said, “When the TVK government was formed, they only told this committee to continue your work as it is. But the government did not provide the cooperation needed to continue the work. Three office assistants were working in that committee’s office. Even after their contract period ended, they were given an extension of only three months. Now their term has ended. No extension has been given to those three people. The committee’s report will be prepared entirely in English. There was a translator employed to translate it into Tamil. His contract ended on October 15. He too was not given an extension. He has been relieved from service. How can the committee’s report be brought out in Tamil without a translator? Kurian Joseph and Ashok Vardhan Shetty have written to the government requesting that the service period of employees whose contract has ended be extended. No response has been given from the government side. The contract period of the three ‘Research Officers’ currently working will end in the second week of November. They are the key people in preparing the report. Their extension must be granted. But it is doubtful whether the government will take that decision. The government is operating with the mindset of quietly rendering this committee ineffective,” they said.
Those in the circle who are well aware of this group's work and recommendations say among us, ``This was a committee that functioned beyond political likes and dislikes.
Rather than working with a narrow political agenda of DMK versus BJP, this committee is preparing its report with a broad perspective so that it will be useful to all states. They have extensively documented the issues between the Union and state governments on a wide range of topics such as fiscal devolution, elections, delimitation, transport, art, literature, history, and culture. They have also sought to propose solutions to Union-state relationship issues by comparing India with democratic countries that are similar to it. During the DMK government, this committee’s interim report was also sent to Union ministers. They themselves praised this work and offered their wholehearted appreciation.
This committee was set up to broadly discuss Centre-State relations nearly half a century after the Rajamannar Committee. This committee also serves as a model for other states. It is not fair to stall the functioning of such a committee for political reasons. In the second phase, this committee is preparing 15 chapters. The government should cooperate so that this committee’s report can be submitted beyond politics," they say.
'The TVK government wants to act in a way that does not hurt the BJP’s feelings. The NEET protest, the SIR protest, and now this tendency to quietly render this committee ineffective all prove that. Even some ministers in the TVK government do not want to cooperate with this committee. The funds for this committee come under the general department, which is in the Chief Minister’s hands. If this committee is unable to complete its report, it is the Chief Minister who will get a bad name,' say political commentators.
In this regard, we contacted Ashokvardhan Shetty, a retired IAS officer and member of the committee. He replied by text message, saying, "There is nothing like that. We are carrying out our work as planned."
Even the committee set up to understand the Union-State relationship issue is in trouble(?)