CHENNAI: A division bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the State to submit within 10 days, the present status of two writ petitions filed by former CM M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa challenging the ceding of Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka by virtue of agreements between the two nations in 1974 and 1976.
The petitions were filed in their capacity as president of DMK and general secretary of AIADMK. The bench of Justices S Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad gave the directive when a PIL from LTA Peter Rayan of Fishermen Care came up for further hearing.
While the two petitions from the leaders challenged the agreement between the two nations in 1974 and 1976, which they said, was the root cause for the untold miseries faced by Tamil Nadu fishermen at the hands of Lankan navy personnel, Rayan’s petition challenging a High Court’s order which earlier dismissed it was also tagged with them.
In his counter, the Fisheries Department listed the steps taken by the State government to protect the lives of fishermen and their property. Since 2011, totally 3,033 fishermen and 393 fishing boats had been released and brought back to Tamil Nadu as on August 16 last. There are 29 fishermen and 177 boats, still languishing in Lankan custody.