The Supreme Court of India has scheduled a hearing for 15 September 2025 to address petitions challenging the agreements through which India ceded the Katchatheevu islet to Sri Lanka in the 1970s.
This follows the Court’s recent decision to allow DMK leader T.R. Baalu to substitute the late former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi as the petitioner in the case.
The petitions contest the legality of the agreements signed on 26 and 28 June 1974 and 23 March 1976, which formalised the transfer of Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka. The petitioners argue that these accords, executed without parliamentary approval, resulted in the unconstitutional cession of Indian territory.
The Katchatheevu issue has been a longstanding point of contention, particularly in Tamil Nadu, where political leaders have periodically called for the retrieval of the islet.
In 2014, the Indian government informed the Supreme Court that reclaiming Katchatheevu was not feasible, asserting that no Indian territory had been ceded, as the area was disputed and had never been demarcated.
The upcoming hearing is expected to revisit these arguments and assess the constitutional validity of the 1970s agreements.
