Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin Announces Panel To Recommend Measures For State's Autonomy

Taking its battle against the Centre to the next level, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday announced in the assembly that the DMK government will form a committee to recommend measures for the state's autonomy.

Former Supreme Court judge Kurian Joseph will head the panel which will also have ex-IAS officers - Ashok Vardan Shetty and Mu Nagarajan.

The Tamil Nadu CM said, "To strengthen the relationship between state and union Government, this committee will do a research and give recommendations." The government has given January 2026 as the deadline to submit the interim report and urged the three-member committee to complete the full report by 2028.

The primary function of the said committee is to give recommendation on improving the centre-state relations. Stalin attacked the Centre on the the National Education Policy and accused the BJP-led government of not clearing funds worth Rs 2500 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 cr to the state has not been released by the Union Government," ANI quoted the TN CM as saying.

The DMK government had first formed the Rajmannar Commission in 1969 to review centre-state relations and recommend greater autonomy for states.

Thereafter, several committees were formed to improve the relations, including the Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) in 1966, the Sarkaria Commission in 1963 by Justice R.S. Sarkaria and the Punchhi Commission in 2007 by the Centre.

Centre Vs DMK

The DMK has locked horns with the Centre on several issues, including the delimitation exercise and the three language policy. Stalin has also hosted the first Joint Action Committee (JAC) on 'fair delimitation'.

He has garnered support from the Congress-ruled states and from the LDF government in Kerala and the AAP government in Punjab.