A group of former civil servants has written to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Joseph Vijay, urging the state government to reinstate a high-level committee on Union-state relations that was disbanded earlier this month. The letter, issued by the Constitutional Conduct Group, argues that the discontinuation of the panel is an "incomprehensible" decision that undermines federal principles. The three-member committee had been constituted under the previous Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam administration to review constitutional provisions regarding the relationship between the Union and the states.
According to The Hindu, the former bureaucrats challenged the state government’s justification for disbanding the panel, which cited the body’s non-statutory nature. The group pointed out that the Tamil Nadu State Law Commission is also an executive body, yet the government reconstituted the law commission in August with a mandate to examine Union-state relations. The letter noted there is no evidence that the law commission has examined such issues in its thirty-year history, suggesting the transfer of the committee’s work to the law commission is a "retrograde step" that risks losing institutional knowledge.
The high-level committee, headed by former Supreme Court judge Kurian Joseph, was established in April 2025 amid strained ties between the Tamil Nadu government and the central coalition. Its mandate included reviewing laws and policies to recommend restoring subjects moved from the State List to the Concurrent List. The panel submitted its first report in February to then-Chief Minister MK Stalin, who was defeated in the May 4 assembly elections. The new TVK-led government disbanded the committee on November 6 and removed Part I of the report from its website.
The former bureaucrats suggested the decision might stem from a reluctance to displease the central government or a rejection of decentralised power. They urged Vijay to affirm a commitment to strong federal democracy and devolution of powers. The News Minute reported the government order citing the non-statutory status, while Scroll noted the committee was set up during tensions over delimitation and education policies. The group emphasized that an integrated analysis requires a single body to apply its mind to complex constitutional issues.