TN's high-level panel on Centre-State relationship stares at slow death

CHENNAI: The State government’s high-level committee on Centre-State relations seems to be on its way to a slow death as an acute shortage of essential staff, including office assistants and an accountant, is hitting its functioning at a time when it is working on its second report on greater State autonomy.

After the change of regime, Chairman Justice Kurian Joseph and member K Ashok Vardhan Shetty met Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay. However, the delay in restoring staffing levels has left existing personnel shouldering the additional workload.

Sources said two or three of the five research scholars engaged by the committee may leave their assignments due to inadequate administrative support, putting into question the very existence and functioning of the panel. With the committee’s term ending in a few months, the shortage could affect its ability to collect data, undertake research and complete its report.

Though the TVK-led government has approved an allocation of around Rs 1.5 crore for the committee, the staff strength sanctioned during the previous DMK regime expired a few months ago. The committee has written to the government seeking approval for essential staff, but the request is yet to be cleared.

"The government is processing a file seeking approval for the staff strength requested by the committee," a Human Resources Department source said.

"There are five research scholars working in the committee to collect data and undertake research. Some of them have decided to leave the committee due to a lack of adequate support from the government," a committee employee said.

The immediate problem is administrative, but its larger implication could be political. The quality and breadth of the committee’s recommendations will depend on the research and data it can gather. A weakened research team could, consequently, narrow the scope of its second report and dilute the broader exercise on State autonomy.

The Rajamannar Committee, constituted by the DMK government in 1969 on similar lines, served as an ideological catalyst for a greater assertion of state rights. The present version, initiated by MK Stalin, is struggling to meet its second report deadline in May 2027.

The change of regime has already altered the committee, with Professor M Naganathan resigning from the three-member panel. It is now functioning with only its chairman and one member.