Agarwal, Sunil Kumar

Abstract
Maritime boundary, like territorial or land boundary, is a politically sensitive subject, because it affects a state’s sovereign rights concerning the fisheries, hydrocarbons and other resources as well as uses of the sea. This sensitivity is manifest in the issue of delimitation of maritime boundaries between India and Bangladesh. Bangladesh, having failed to resolve the dispute diplomatically, has invoked Annex VII mandatory arbitration procedures, entailing binding decision, to seek judicial settlement of the dispute against India. Currently, arbitration proceedings are going on between India and Bangladesh at the Permanent Court of Arbitration, The Hague, for the delimitation of their maritime boundaries under the UNCLOS, 1982. This paper provides an overview and analysis of the legal aspects of the India-Bangladesh maritime boundary dispute. Bangladesh’s ‘nonflexible’ approach in resolving the dispute is primarily driven by its desperation to benefit commercially by exploiting potential hydrocarbon resources in the Bay of Bengal, which ignores both facts as well as the applicable law. Therefore, arguments put forth by Bangladesh to buttress its maritime claim may boomerang in legal scrutiny and make it a loser in legal battle with India.
Read the article here (subscription required)