Chennai, April 16 -- Tamil Nadu chief minister and DMK president MK Stalin on Tuesday announced a high-level committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge to protect the rights of states, a move that comes shortly after the state won a legal battle in the Supreme Court over the powers of the Governor to stall state business (the court effectively ruled that there were none).

The committee will be headed by former Supreme Court judge justice Kurian Joseph to "protect the legitimate rights of the states" as provided in the Constitution and strengthen relationship between the Union and state governments, according to Stalin.

The other two committee members are Ashok Vardhan Shetty, a retired IAS officer and former vice-chancellor of th...