CHENNAI: Fixing a single, non-renewable five-year term for Governors – to be chosen from a panel of three names approved by the State Assembly – is among the key recommendations of the high-level committee on Union–State relations headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Kurian Joseph.The 387-page report was tabled in the Assembly by Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday. It addresses ten critical issues, including the role of the Governor, language policy, delimitation, elections, education, health and GST reforms.In his foreword, Stalin said the analysis draws on Constituent Assembly debates, comparative federal studies, earlier commission reports, judicial pronouncements and contemporary research. “Its recommendations are rooted in the principles of subsidiarity, democratic accountability and constitutional propriety, as well as the best practices of mature federations,” he noted.The panel has proposed amending Article 155 to bind the President to appoint, as Governor, one of three names approved by a majority of the total membership of the State Legislative Assembly. It has also recommended a single, fixed, non-renewable five-year term.On constitutional amendments, the report underscores that every amendment Bill must secure a two-thirds majority of the total membership of each House of Parliament under Article 368(2). Amendments affecting specific States should require ratification only by the legislatures of the concerned States, approved by a two-thirds majority of their total membership.The committee has further recommended minimising constitutional provisions that can be altered by a simple parliamentary majority, insisting that substantive changes must proceed under Article 368. This, it argues, would prevent the Union government from pushing through ideologically driven or politically motivated measures with ease.On language policy, the report urges the Union government to correct Census distortions by ending the misclassification of 53 independent languages — including Bhojpuri, Rajasthani, Chhattisgarhi and Magadhi — as “dialects of Hindi”, and to present the accurate percentage of Hindi speakers. Reiterating the State’s opposition to Hindi imposition, it states that India must abandon the “One Nation, One Language” premise and recognise that unity stems from equality, not linguistic uniformity.On territorial integrity, the report proposes amending Article 2 to confine its scope to the admission of new territories and the creation of new States from such territories. Any territorial reorganisation under Article 3, it says, should be treated as a State-specific constitutional amendment requiring the concurrence of the affected State.On Goods and Services Tax, it calls for rebalancing quorum and voting norms under Article 279A. “Restoring the federal equilibrium within the GST Council requires targeted amendments to clauses (7) and (9) of Article 279A,” the report states, adding that the objective is “not to paralyse decision-making”, but to curb unilateralism, compel genuine consensus and realign the Council with the constitutional promise of cooperative federalism. It outlines options such as a higher quorum with a fixed voting base, weighted rebalancing under a partnership model, and a ‘one member, one vote’ formula.The committee has also urged the Union government to bear “at least 80 per cent of the costs” of Centrally Sponsored Schemes. For other forms of assistance, it recommends untied block grants. It further suggests that States be offered a menu of such schemes to choose from, that the Union refrain from intruding into the State domain of health, and that Union schemes adopt co-branding with State-language nomenclature alongside Hindi and English./eom/shan/
