The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday formed a high level committee headed by former Supreme Court Justice Kurian Joseph to study the State autonomy and the centre-state relations as envisaged in the Constitution.
The committee will give its interim report in January 2026, and the full report in two years, Chief Minister MK Stalin announced in the legislative assembly on Tuesday.
With this, CM Stalin follows in the footsteps of his father and former TN CM M Karunanidhi.
In 1969, the former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi had also set up a committee headed by Justice PV Rajamannar to study Centre-State relations.
The committee will have K. Ashok Vardhan Shetty, former Vice-Chancellor of the Indian Maritime University, and M Naganathan, former Vice-Chairman of the State Planning Commission, as members, Stalin added.
The chief minister said the objective of the move is to take steps to get additional powers for the State. Education should be included in the state list. The states rights are being taken away. Only if the states have the rights, the country will be unified, he said.
The BJP members walked out of the House opposing the announcement. The Aiadmk members walked out before Stalin started his speech for not allowing them to raise certain issues.
On March 25, while responding to a special mention on the two-language policy, the CM had said that he would soon make an announcement on the subject. “We can protect the Tamil language and uplift Tamils only if we ensure State autonomy and uphold the rights of States,” he then said.
Published on April 15, 2025
