Tamil Nadu panel report on Centre-state relation calls to defang governors

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu on Wednesday made a shrill pitch for greater federalism, with the state assembly tabling the Justice Kurian Joseph-committee report on Centre-state relations that recommended diminished powers for the governor and greater role for states in constitutional amendments.In its 387-page part-1 of the report, the three-member panel said: “Amend Article 155 to bind the President to appoint one of the three names approved by a majority of the state assembly.” It recommended a single, fixed, non-renewable five-year term for governors and proposed that they be barred from holding any further constitutional office except that of President and Vice-President.The governors should not hold office in a political party or any office of the executive, legislature or judiciary in the preceding five years of appointment, it said. The panel sought amendments to impose mandatory timelines for gubernatorial and presidential action on state bills, with deemed assent on expiry, citing the framework laid down by the Supreme Court in April 2025. “Governor shall not reserve state list bills for Presidential consideration and must act within 15 days, while repassed bills must receive assent within a further 15 days, except for limited high court safeguard under Article 200.”The committee recommended doing away with the customary governor’s address at the start of an assembly session and divesting the governor of the statutory role as chancellor of state universities. Chief minister M K Stalin said many of the recommendations would require constitutional amendments and structural reforms. “The Constitution has been amended 106 times in the last 76 years. If we try, we can amend it again,” he said.The report said governors shall maintain constitutional dignity, avoid public criticism of state govt and legislature, and convey concerns privately through constitutional channels. “Dissolution (of the legislative assembly) shall be ordered solely on ministerial advice,” it said.The panel sought a larger say for states in elections, education, health, delimitation and GST. The report flayed the three-language formula and suggested the country shift from “weak trilingualism to high proficiency bilingualism.” Reiterating the state’s opposition to Hindi imposition, the report said India must abandon the ‘one nation one language’ policy and urged the Union govt to correct Census distortions by ending the misclassification of 53 independent languages as dialects of Hindi.On territorial integrity, the panel said the consent of the affected state legislature should be obtained before the President recommends introducing a bill to create a new state, and that the same principle should apply to altering the area, boundaries or name of a state. It recommended extending the freeze on inter-state seat allocation for a century, until 2126, or until total fertility rates across states converge within a narrow band of the national average, whichever is earlier.The report said the ‘one nation, one election’ proposal should be withdrawn as it violates the basic structure of the Constitution. It proposed limiting the role of Election Commission of India to elections for Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, President, Vice-President and Union territories, while independent State Election Commissions conduct elections to state legislatures and local bodies. The state commission should have full control over preparation of the electoral rolls which ECI can use for Lok Sabha elections without supervisory authority.On anti-defection, the panel recommended that members disqualified for defection be barred from contesting elections for six years, and mass resignations aimed at toppling governments be treated as defections, attracting the same six-year ban.The panel sought education should be shifted from the concurrent list to the state list. It called for disbanding the National Testing Agency. It urged Union govt to discontinue national entrance examinations such as NEET and NExT and replace the all-India quota with a voluntary, state-determined quota to support candidates from regions with infrastructure deficits.The committee suggested an independent, permanent autonomous GST council secretariat headed by a secretary-general, appointed through a joint Union–states process. The state govt had, on April 15, 2025, appointed the Justice Kurian panel which included former bureaucrat Ashok Vardhan Shetty and economist M Naganathan.This is the second such panel appointed by TN govt on Centre-state relationship. The P V Rajamannar commission appointed by then chief minister M Karunanidhi in 1969, submitted its report in 1971.