Katchatheevu Dispute: Supreme Court's Fresh Hearing and Sri Lanka's Sovereignty Claim

1. Katchatheevu Dispute: Supreme Court's Fresh Hearing and Sri Lanka's Sovereignty Claim

Basic Concept

Katchatheevu is a small, uninhabited island of about 285 acres in the Palk Strait, lying between Rameswaram (Tamil Nadu, India) and Delft Island (Sri Lanka). Historically administered as part of the zamindari of the Raja of Ramnad and claimed by both the Madras Presidency and Ceylon during the colonial period, its ownership remained unsettled even after Independence. The dispute was addressed through two bilateral instruments: the Indo-Sri Lanka Maritime Boundary Agreement of 1974, which placed Katchatheevu on the Sri Lankan side of the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) in the Palk Strait, and a follow-up Agreement of 1976, which extended the maritime boundary into the Gulf of Mannar and the Bay of Bengal and restricted Indian fishermen from fishing, anchoring, drying nets, or making festival visits in Sri Lankan waters without permission. These agreements were given effect through an executive exchange of letters rather than a law passed by Parliament, which is the constitutional sensitivity at the heart of recurring litigation. Under Article 3, read with Article 1, Parliament can alter the areas, boundaries or names of existing States by ordinary law; but the Supreme Court held in the Berubari Union case (1960) that ceding Indian territory to a foreign country is a different matter altogether — it amounts to a change in Article 1 and the First Schedule and therefore requires a constitutional amendment under Article 368, which cannot be achieved by executive action or ordinary legislation alone. It was this very reasoning that led to the Constitution (Ninth Amendment) Act, 1960, when India transferred the Berubari Union to Pakistan. Whether the same logic should have applied to Katchatheevu in 1974 is the constitutional question that has kept this matter alive in Indian courts and politics for decades, closely intertwined with the livelihood crisis of Tamil Nadu's fishing communities, who are repeatedly arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy for crossing the IMBL in the ecologically stressed waters of the Palk Bay.

Core Context

On 6 October 2026, a Supreme Court Bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Sanjeev Sachdeva heard a batch of long-pending writ petitions, including A.K. Selvaraj v. Union of India (W.P.(C) No. 561/2008), challenging the legality of the 1974 and 1976 agreements. Senior Advocate P. Wilson, appearing for the fishermen's side, reiterated that ceding Katchatheevu without a formal amendment to the First Schedule of the Constitution was unconstitutional, invoking the Berubari precedent. Tamil Nadu's Additional Advocates General, appearing for the State, pressed the Centre to resolve the matter diplomatically, citing a recent letter from the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister flagging around 20 fresh arrests of Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy. Attorney General R. Venkataramani, appearing for the Union Government, told the Bench that India has no intention of reopening the interpretation of the 1974 and 1976 agreements, since India shares a close diplomatic relationship with Sri Lanka that it does not wish to disturb. He attributed the fishermen's repeated incursions partly to depleting fish stocks on the Indian side of the Palk Bay, and said the State Government should sensitise its fishermen against crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line. The Court did not rule on the validity of the agreements and listed the matter for further hearing in February 2027, after recording the Attorney General's assurance that the Union Government remains "alive to the issues" and will take necessary diplomatic measures.

Latest Developments

• Following the hearing, Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake stated, around 11–12 October 2026, that India has effectively reaffirmed Sri Lanka's sovereignty over Katchatheevu by declining to reopen the 1974 and 1976 agreements, a position Colombo has welcomed as settling the sovereignty question in its favour.

• Sections of the Sri Lankan political establishment and commentary have described the Indian Attorney General's submissions as "broadly consistent" with Colombo's long-held stance that the 1974 accord is final and not open to renegotiation.

• Tamil Nadu's political leadership continues to press the Union Government to take up the fishermen's arrests and the island's status more assertively with Colombo, keeping the issue salient in State politics.

• The Attorney General's linkage of the fishermen's crossings to depleted fish stocks points to an underlying ecological dimension: overfishing and trawling in Indian waters of the Palk Bay push fishing fleets toward the comparatively richer Sri Lankan side of the IMBL.

• With the matter adjourned to February 2027, Katchatheevu's constitutional status remains sub judice; no change has occurred on the ground, and the executive's position of "not reopening" the agreements functions, in practice, as a continuation of the post-1974 status quo.

UPSC Prelims Pointers

• Katchatheevu lies in the Palk Strait, which separates Tamil Nadu's Rameswaram from Sri Lanka's Jaffna Peninsula; the island itself lies close to Sri Lanka's Delft Island.

• The Indo-Sri Lanka Maritime Boundary Agreement, 1974, ceded Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka; the 1976 Agreement extended the maritime boundary to the Gulf of Mannar and the Bay of Bengal and restricted Indian fishermen's access.

• The Berubari Union case (1960) held that cession of Indian territory to a foreign State requires a constitutional amendment under Article 368, not ordinary legislation under Article 3; this led to the Constitution (Ninth Amendment) Act, 1960.

• Article 1 defines India as a "Union of States" with territory specified in the First Schedule; Article 3 allows Parliament to alter boundaries of existing States by ordinary law, but not to cede national territory to a foreign country.

• The current litigation on Katchatheevu, including A.K. Selvaraj v. Union of India, is before a Bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Sanjeev Sachdeva, next listed for February 2027.

• The International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) in the Palk Strait area demarcates Indian and Sri Lankan waters; crossing it without authorisation exposes fishermen to arrest by the Sri Lankan Navy.