Katchatheevu still part of TN as per revenue records: TN govt

Madurai: Katchatheevu, the islet ceded to Sri Lanka by India in 1974, "was always and still is part of Tamil Nadu as per revenue records", the state government on Wednesday told the Madras High Court.

The government stated its stand at the high court bench here while filing its counter in response to the PIL filed by advocate B Stalin, seeking to protect the rights of the Indian fishermen and ensure their safety when they were fishing in the Palk Strait.

The Additional Secretary of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries Department, who filed the counter, said the present drawal of the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) with Katchatheevu, falling on the other side of the IMBL was not agreeable to Tamil Nadu and it had been challenged in the Supreme Court.

The government of Tamil Nadu had also repeatedly made it clear that the execution of 1974 and 1976 agreements with Sri Lanka regarding the Katchatheevu was signed without consulting Tamil Nadu and without due consideration to the welfare of the thousands of fishermen families who depend on fishing in the Palk Bay area for centuries together, he submitted.

The Tamil Nadu government was taking "pro-active steps" for restoration of the traditional fishing rights of Tamil Nadu fishermen in Palk Bay waters and for retrieval of the Katchatheevu, he said.

The traditional fishing rights of the Tamil Nadu fishermen in the traditional fishing grounds that lied on either side of the IMBL were accepted and acknowledged even by the Sri Lankan fishermen, he said. The transboundary crossing by the Indian fishermen was a fact known and accepted by both the Lankan and Indian governments, he submitted.