CHENNAI: The TVK-led state government has thrown open the English version of Part-I of the High-Level Committee on Union-State Relations report to the public, cancelling the exclusive copyright that the previous DMK-led government had earlier granted to a private publisher for the English edition.
The English version of the report can now be downloaded from the committee’s official website (hlcusr.tn.gov.in).
According to the Government Order (GO) issued on Thursday, Secretary to Government E Sundaravalli directed the high-level committee to host the English version of the report on the website “immediately to ensure transparency”, as this would bring it on a par with the Tamil version, which was made freely accessible earlier on the same website.
The Tamil version of Part-I of the report had already been opened up for free reproduction by any publisher under an earlier order on February 16, 2026, to ensure wider circulation. The English version, however, remained under an exclusive copyright arrangement with a private publisher, restricting open access.
Sources privy to the developments told TNIE that the copyrights for the English version were given to Bloomsbury publications to take the recommendations of the report to the community at large.
The GO noted that the government, “after careful consideration”, decided to extend the same open-access principle to the English edition like that of Tamil, directing the committee to cancel the exclusive rights “by following the due procedure of law”.
“Several committees have been formed in regard to the centre-state relationship by both centre as well as the Tamil Nadu government. However, none of the recommendations went to the larger public beyond Tamil Nadu.
Hence, it was decided not only to bring in Tamil and English versions, but also in other regional languages. So, in order to take the recommendations across India and beyond India, the copyrights were first given to the private publication,” a personnel who is part of the committee’s research told TNIE.