DHAKA: Bangladesh has been awarded a total of 19,467 square kilometers water area in the Bay winning battle over maritime boundary against India.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in the Netherlands passed the order on Monday.
Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali made the disclosure over the verdict of the case on Tuesday.
Location of the Land Boundary Terminus
The verdict said, “Bangladesh and India agreed that the location of the land boundary terminus was to be determined by application of the 1947 award rendered by Sir Cyril Radcliffe, Chairman of the Bengal Boundary Commission (the “Radcliffe Award”), as well as Notification No. 964 Jur. of the Governor of Bengal of 1925.”
The Parties (Bangladesh and India) disagreed on the interpretation of Annexure A to the Radcliffe Award and of the 1925 Notification. They also disagreed on the relevance and the interpretation of the map in Annexure B to the Radcliffe Award.
Annexure A of the Award said that the boundary line shall “run southwards along the boundary between the Districts of Khulna and 24 Parganas, to the point where that boundary meets the Bay of Bengal.” Annexure B of the Radcliffe Award included a map of Bengal, indicating the boundary determined by that Award.
The boundary between the Districts of Khulna and 24 Parganas, referenced in the Radcliffe Award, had itself been set out in the 1925 Notification No. 964 Jur. in the following terms: “the western boundary of district Khulna passes along the south-western boundary of Chandanpur . . . till it meets the midstream of the main channel of the river Ichhamati, then along the midstream of the main channel for the time being of the rivers Ichhamati and Kalindi, Raimangal and Haribhanga till it meets the Bay.”
Having considered the Parties’ views, the Tribunal determined that the midstream of the main channel of the Haribhanga River must be located as it was in 1947.
The Tribunal also found that the Radcliffe Award, incorporating the 1925 Notification, referred to the Haribhanga River alone and not to the combined waters of the Haribhanga and Raimangal Rivers as they meet the Bay of Bengal.
The Tribunal used the map in Annexure B to the Radcliffe Award to identify the proper coordinates of the land boundary terminus, which was then transposed to a modern chart. The resulting position of the land boundary terminus is 21° 38′ 40.2″N, 89° 09′ 20.0″E (WGS-84).
Territorial Sea
Territorial Sea was delimited based on the article 15 of the Convention which refers specifically to the median/equidistance line method for the delimitation of the territorial sea, in which the boundary takes the form of a line, every point of which is equidistant from the nearest points on the coasts of the Parties.
The Tribunal noted, however, that the land boundary terminus, determined by reference to the Radcliffe Award, is not at a point on the median/equidistance line.
The Tribunal considered this to constitute a special circumstance and decided that the boundary should take the form of a 12 nautical mile long geodetic line continuing from the land boundary terminus in a generally southerly direction to meet the median line at 21° 26′ 43.6″N; 89° 10′ 59.2″E.
Exclusive Economic Zone and the Continental Shelf
Beyond the limit of the territorial sea, the Convention entitles States to sovereign rights over an exclusive economic zone extending to 200 nautical miles from the coast and over the continental shelf.
According to the articles 74(1) and 83(1) of the Convention the Tribunal considered that the “equidistance/relevant circumstances” method is preferable as this was not any special circumstance.
The Tribunal used the same method to delimit the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles.
Having decided that the concavity of the Bay of Bengal required the adjustment of the provisional equidistance line within 200 nautical miles, the Tribunal was also of the view that an adjustment was required beyond 200 nautical miles to reduce the excessive negative consequences the provisional equidistance line would have for Bangladesh.
The Tribunal decided that the equidistance line should be adjusted beginning at Delimitation Point 3 from where the boundary would be a geodetic line with an initial azimuth of 177° 30´00˝ until this line meets with the maritime boundary between Bangladesh and Myanmar.
The Tribunal evaluated the maritime areas that would be allocated to each Party by its adjusted delimitation line and concluded that, in comparison to the lengths of the Parties’ coasts, the allocation was not disproportionate.
Finally, the Tribunal noted that the delimitation line it had adopted gives rise to an area that lies beyond 200 nautical miles from the coast of Bangladesh and within 200 miles from the coast of India, and yet lies to the east of the Tribunal’s delimitation line. Within this “grey area”, the Tribunal noted, Bangladesh has a potential entitlement with respect to the continental shelf, but not an exclusive economic zone, while India is potentially entitled to both zones. Accordingly, the Tribunal decided that, within the grey area, the boundary line delimits only the Parties’ sovereign rights with respect to the continental shelf, and does not otherwise limit India’s sovereign rights to the exclusive economic zone in the superjacent waters.
On October 8 in 2009, Bangladesh moved for arbitration over the delimitation of maritime boundary under the United Nations Convention on Law of Sea (UNCLOS).
The hearings ended in December last year when both sides argued their case before the PCA at the Netherlands.
After four years and nine month of legal battle the Arbitral Tribunal renders its unappealable verdict in favour of Bangladesh.
Secretary General of the PCA Hugo Hans Siblesz handed over the copies of verdict to the both countries around 2:00pm (BD time).
Bangladeshi Ambassador to Netherlands Sheikh Mohammad Belal and Indian Ambassador Rajesh Nandan Prashad received the copy on behalf their respective countries.
The then foreign minister Dipu Moni filed the case against India with the court on October 8, 2009 as the both countries failed to come to consensus over the matter of maritime boundary
The court comprising five justice led by Professor Dr Rüdiger Wolfrum from Germany passed the order where Jean-Pierre Cot from France, Thomas A Mansa from Myanmar, Dr Premaraz Sreesnibash of India and Professor Ivan Searer were also present.
BDST: 1845 HRS, JUL 08, 2014
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