Tamil Nadu-appointed committee recommends slew of measures on Centre-State relations

Chennai: A three-member committee appointed by the Tamil Nadu government to review Centre-State relations has recommended that Governors of states be chosen from three names approved by the State Assembly and the appointees have a single, fixed tenure, non-renewable five-year term. 

The committee also suggested extending the freeze on the number of Lok Sabha seats for another 100 years i.e. till 2126 or until the Total Fertility Rates (TFRs) of all states converge within a narrow band of the national average, whichever is earlier.

It also suggested retaining the Lok Sabha’s maximum strength at 550 seats and Legislative Assemblies at their present strengths, while mandating periodic intra-State delimitation. 

“The 1976 freeze’s rationale remains compelling: to avoid penalising states that achieved population stabilisation,” the report, authored by retired Supreme Court judge Kurian Joseph, retired bureaucrat K Ashok Vardhan Shetty and academic Prof M Naganathan, said. The committee was appointed by Chief Minister M K Stalin in April 2025.

On the issue of Governor, the report recommended amending Article 155 to bind the President to appoint one of the three names approved by a majority of the total membership of the State Legislative Assembly as Governor of that State.

“Amend Article 156 to provide a single, fixed, non-renewable five-year term for Governors, with ineligibility for further constitutional office except President or Vice-President. Delete the proviso permitting continuation beyond term; upon expiry, the Chief Justice of the High Court shall officiate until a successor assumes office,” the committee said. 

The committee also suggested that the Governor shall be removed only through a resolution of the State Legislative Assembly passed by a majority of its total membership, binding the President to act on such resolution within fourteen days. 

“Amend Article 157 to require that the Governor, in addition to the existing requirements, shall be an outsider to the State, an eminent person in some recognised field of public life, and shall not have held office in a political party or any office under the Executive, Legislature, or Judiciary during the preceding five years,” the report added. 

The members also recommended amending Articles 200 and 201 to impose mandatory timelines for gubernatorial and presidential action on State Bills, with deemed assent on expiry, drawing on the framework laid down by the Supreme Court.

“Except for the limited High Court safeguard under Article 200, Governors shall not reserve State List Bills for Presidential consideration and must act within 15 days; re-passed Bills must receive assent within a further 15 days. The same timelines apply to Concurrent List Bills, which may be reserved only in cases of repugnancy under Article 254,” the report added. 

On education, the committee said since the fifty-year experiment with concurrency has failed, Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 11 of the State List should be amended to transfer Education, including technical education, medical education and universities to the State List.

“The Union should exit direct management of schools, colleges, and universities and transfer them to the States,” the report said, and recommended disbanding of the National Testing Agency (NTA). 

The panel also said restoring the federal equilibrium within the GST Council requires targeted amendments to clauses (7) and (9) of Article 279A. 

“The present quorum of 50 per cent enables strategic absences and magnifies Union dominance. To convert a boycott from a purely theoretical “nuclear option” into a credible constitutional safeguard, the quorum should be raised to two-thirds of total membership (22 of 33 members). This ensures that the absence of a politically plausible bloc of States can halt proceedings and force negotiation,” the committee added.