Tamil Nadu seeks Kachchatheevu on lease in perpetuity

The Tamil Nadu State has suggested to the Centre to get Kachchatheewu and the adjoining sea on lease in perpetuity for fishing. It will help to uphold the Lankan sovereignty and at the same time permit the Tamil Nadu fishermen to engage in fishing. It also suggested license fishing in Lankan waters. This will be on the lines of agreements reached between China and Japan, Australia and Indonesia, China and Vietnam. 

This is stated in an affidavit filed by the Tamil Nadu State in a public interest litigation before Court seeking a directive to the Centre to protect the fishermen.

The affidavit admitted that Tamil Nadu fishermen stray into the Lankan waters and pleaded that legalities and sovereignty of nations do not bind the fishermen like the fish which have no trans-boundaries. Any decision that harms the traditional fishing practices will deprive them of their earning a livelihood.

It stated that the two agreements entered into between Sri Lanka and India in 1974 and 1976 ceding away Kachchtheevu and the adjoining seas was the root cause of the problems of the Tamil Nadu fishermen.