Alleging that states' rights were gradually being snatched by the Centre, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday announced the constitution of a panel under a retired Supreme Court judge on state autonomy.
The high-level committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Kurian Joseph will examine in detail the relationship between the Union and state governments to ensure state autonomy.
It will submit its interim report in January 2026. The final report with recommendations will be submitted in two years, Stalin told the state Assembly.
The panel will have former bureaucrat, Ashok Vardhan Shetty and former vice-chairman of the State Planning Commission M Naganathan as its members.
"The committee will study, as per the law, to transfer those subjects that went from the State List to the Concurrent List," the Chief Minister said and pointed out that the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) was out of the purview of states.
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Addressing the Tamil Nadu state assembly, Stalin said, "To strengthen the relationship between state and union Government, this committee will do a research and give recommendations."
Stalin has also asked the committee to look into how the state subjects moved to the concurrent list can be retrieved. "The committee will study, as per the law, to transfer those subjects that went from the State List to the Concurrent List," he said.
Tamil Nadu CM also reiterated his long-standing criticism of India’s medical entrance exam National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and the National Education Policy while addressing the assembly.
He said the Centre is trying to impose Hindi language through the National Education Policy and claimed that because Tamil Nadu has rejected NEP, the Centre has withheld state’s funds worth ₹2,500 crore.
"We have lost many students due to the NEET exam. We have continuously opposed the NEET exam. In the name of the triple language policy, the Union Government is trying to impose Hindi in Tamil Nadu. Since we have denied NEP, ₹2500 crore to the state has not been released by the Union Government," he added.
MK Stalin has constantly been at loggerheads with Tamil Nadu's Governor RN Ravi. His recent remarks and call for more power to states comes after his big Supreme Court win against Governor RN Ravi.
Tamil Nadu government, headed by MK Stalin's DMK, had sued RN Ravi for withholding assent to several bills passed by the state assembly for President's consideration even after they were sent twice.
Supreme Court reprimanded the governor and called his move “illegal”.
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