Alleging that state's rights were gradually being snatched by the Centre, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Tuesday announced the constitution of a panel under a retired Supreme Court judge on state autonomy.

The high-level committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Kurian Joseph will examine in detail the relationship between the Union and state governments to ensure state autonomy. It will submit its interim report in January 2026. The final report with recommendations will be submitted in two years, Stalin told the state Assembly.

The panel will have former bureaucrat, Ashok Vardhan Shetty and former vice-chairman of the State Planning Commission M Naganathan as its members.

"The committee will study, as per the law, to transfer those subjects that went from the State List to the Concurrent List," the Chief Minister said and pointed out that the National Eligibility-cum- Entrance Test (NEET) was out of the purview of states.

The NEET face-off came to a boil earlier this month after President Droupadi Murmu rejected a bill, twice passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly, to allow the state to use Class XII marks instead.

"The union government may have rejected Tamil Nadu's request... but our fight is far from over. We will consult legal experts on how to challenge this decision," he had said.

Another major point of contention between the Tamil Nadu and the centre is the three-language formula in the National Education Policy, which has triggered a 'Hindi imposition' row.

The two sides are battling over a policy that says, among other points, students in Class VII and above must learn a third language (in addition to a mother tongue and English) from a list of 22.

The DMK has objected, pointing out the existing two-language policy has served the state - the second-largest contributor to the Indian economy - well enough.

The Tamil party has also accused the centre, specifically Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, of trying to 'blackmail' it into submission by threatening to withhold Rs 2,500 crore in education funds.

Pradhan and the BJP rubbished the 'blackmail' allegation and countered by accusing the DMK of backtracking on earlier promises to implement, fully, the new education policy.

The BJP also argued the policy does not force a student to study Hindi.