T.N. govt. disbands High-Level Committee on Union-State Relations

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The committee submitted a highly acclaimed Part I of its report to then Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on February 16, 2026.

The High-Level Committee on Union–State Relations, constituted during the erstwhile DMK regime in Tamil Nadu, has been disbanded, and its mandate transferred to the State Law Commission, according to a Government Order (G.O.) issued on November 6, 2026.

In April 2025, then Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had announced in the Legislative Assembly the formation of a three-member high-level panel to review constitutional provisions, statutes, and policies concerning Centre–State relations, and to recommend measures to strengthen federalism and state autonomy.

The committee was chaired by retired Supreme Court Judge Justice Kurian Joseph, with retired IAS officer K. Ashok Vardhan Shetty and former State Planning Commission Vice-Chairman M. Naganathan serving as members. The committee submitted a highly acclaimed Part I of its report to then Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on February 16.

However, the TVK-led government has now chosen to dissolve the committee.

“The Tamil Nadu State Law Commission was re-constituted on 07.08.2026 and is entrusted among others with the broad mandate to examine and make recommendations on matters relating to Inter-State and Centre-State relations along with other subjects, review of the existing laws and improving the legal and institutional frame work of the State,” the G.O pointed out.

The G.O. said, “The High-Level Committee on Union-State Relations is a ‘non-statutory body’, examining various issues relating to Union-State relations, has a considerable similarity and overlap in the nature and scope of the functions entrusted to the Tamil Nadu State Law Commission. Therefore, after careful consideration, the Government have decided to discontinue the services of the High-Level Committee with immediate effect.”

While the G.O. stresses that the Committee was a “not-statutory body”, the State Law Commission, which will now take up the task, is also not a statutory body. It is an executive body created by a Government Order.

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