Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Saturday said the State government will move the Supreme Court with a plea to expedite the case against the ceding of Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka, given the backdrop of attacks by the Lankan navy on Tamil Nadu fishermen continuing unabated.
Jayalalithaa said the decision was taken at a meeting chaired by her on Friday in which discussions were held with chief secretary and other officials, including legal officers of the State.
The Katchatheevu islet, which has been a bone of contention between the two countries for decades, was ceded to Sri Lanka through an agreement in 1974. Two years later, a fresh treaty was signed following the redrawing of the International Maritime Boundary Line.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the CM said the islet was gifted to Sri Lanka by India in 1974 when the State was ruled by DMK under M Karunanidhi. Apart from affecting the livelihood of fisherfolk in the Rameswaram area, attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen by Sri Lankan Navy became a routine affair after this decision, she said.
Jayalalithaa pointed out that in 2008, citing a 1960 verdict of the SC, she had filed a case arguing that the agreements pertaining to Katchatheevu were illegal.
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