Published Sep 26, 2026 | 11:18 AM ⚊ Updated Sep 26, 2026 | 11:18 AM
Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin with Justice Kurian Joseph-led High-Level Committee members after the submission of the report.
Synopsis: The DMK-formed Kurian Joseph Committee on Centre-State Relations is facing uncertainty under the new TVK government, with its staff contracts nearing expiry and several communications to the government reportedly going unanswered. Amid speculation that its functions could be shifted to the Tamil Nadu Law Commission, questions are now being raised over Law Minister CTR Nirmal Kumar’s alleged role in the committee’s future.
The high-level committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Kurian Joseph, constituted by the previous DMK-led Tamil Nadu government to examine Centre-State relations, has recently come under a cloud of uncertainty. Questions are now being raised over whether the committee will continue under the C Joseph Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) government.
The committee was constituted in April 2025 to examine the evolving relationship between the Union and State governments and suggest measures to strengthen the rights and autonomy of states. Justice Kurian Joseph is the chairman, while retired IAS officer K Ashok Vardhan Shetty is a member. M Naganathan, the former Vice-Chairman of the Tamil Nadu State Planning Commission, was also appointed as a member but has since resigned from the committee.
The latest concern within the committee is whether the government is planning to transfer its functions to the Tamil Nadu Law Commission.
As South First has previously reported, the future of several people working with the committee, including research officers and office assistants, is currently uncertain. According to sources in the committee, the Chief Minister has not yet met any of its members since assuming office.
The communication between the government and the committee is also said to have virtually come to a standstill, with several letters sent by the committee reportedly remaining unanswered.
The issue gained further attention in August, when the functions assigned to the newly reconstituted Tamil Nadu Law Commission included examining “ways and means” concerning relations between the State and the Union governments.
This led to questions within the committee about why a responsibility relating to Centre-State relations had been assigned to the Law Commission when the committee was already working on the subject.
At the time, however, the explanation reportedly given was that such a responsibility was part of the Law Commission’s usual mandate and there was nothing new about it.
Sources familiar with the matter said that shortly after the new government assumed office, senior officials from the Public Department spoke to the committee in May and assured them that it could continue its work. However, uncertainty began to grow in the following months.
In June, Justice Kurian Joseph reportedly wrote to the government regarding the committee’s work on the second part of its report and the process of splitting the remaining work into a third part.
Afterwards, members and other officials associated with the committee reportedly sent several communications to the Public Department about continuing the committee’s work and extending contracts for personnel working with it.
According to sources within the committee, these letters, which come under the direct administrative control of the Chief Minister, have gone unanswered.
Amid the uncertainty, suspicions have emerged among some people associated with the committee that Law Minister Nirmal Kumar could be seeking to shift the committee’s functions to the Law Commission.
A committee source who spoke to South First said, “Nirmal Kumar wants the functions of this committee to be handed over to the Law Commission. He is said to have conveyed this preference to Justice Kurian Joseph. Justice Kurian Joseph is also understood to have made it clear that if that is the government’s decision, he would be willing to step down as chairman.”
There are also reports that Justice Kurian Joseph met a person associated with the State Law Department earlier this month. Within the committee, there is speculation that the person he met was CTR Nirmal Kumar himself. However, this could not be independently verified.
The uncertainty has become more pressing as the contracts of several people working with the committee, particularly research officers, are set to expire in October.
If their contracts are not extended, sources say the committee’s functioning could be severely affected, and its ongoing work could come to a halt.
Members and staff are now waiting for the government to make its position clear.
“There is a government. It should either say that the committee will not continue, or say that it will continue and that the necessary arrangements are being made. But neither is happening. There is no response to our letters and the government is maintaining silence. That is the problem,” the committee source said.
The source also expressed surprise at the government’s reluctance to take a clear decision on the issue.
For now, the committee remains in a state of uncertainty, with its members and staff waiting for a clear decision from Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, under whose administrative control the panel functions.
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(Edited by R Rajesh Kumar.)
