Chennai: More than 70 former IAS, IPS and other retired bureaucrats from across the country on Saturday urged chief minister C Joseph Vijay to reverse the state govt’s decision to discontinue the Justice Kurian Joseph committee on Centre-state relations, allow it to complete Part II of its report and restore Part I, which was removed from the govt website.In a letter to Vijay, the Constitution Conduct Group (CCG), a collective of former All India and Central services officers, termed the govt’s justification that the high-level committee was a “non-statutory” body unconvincing. The group pointed out that the State Law Commission was also an executive body, established through a govt order in 1994 and subsequently reconstituted through executive orders. “There is no bar on a non-statutory body undertaking an inquiry into Centre-state relations and suggesting measures for a healthier and more responsive federal structure,” it said.The CCG said transferring the task of preparing Part II of the report from the high-level committee to the State Law Commission, just six months before the submission deadline, was a retrograde step. It also questioned the removal of the English and Tamil versions of Part I from the govt website, saying the report had been widely appreciated by academics, intellectuals, politicians across party lines, including those from the BJP, and members of the legal fraternity.The group said the removal of the report, which was published by Bloomsbury, suggested that the present govt wanted to disown an exercise commissioned by its predecessor and distance itself from its findings.“As former civil servants who have worked closely with the political executive throughout our years of public service, we find it difficult to discern any compelling justification for your govt’s decision,” the letter said. It added that the decision indicated either that the TVK govt did not fully subscribe to the ideals of a federal democracy or was reluctant to displease the Union govt.
