The government is planning to the move the court against the Union Ministry of Agriculture, Dairy, Fisheries, and Animal Husbandry’s order on a uniform total fisheries ban for 61 days from June 1.
The State government’s stance is that the order is an encroachment on the rights of the States as enjoined by constitutional provisions.
The Centre’s order on April 10, even while advising coastal States and Union Territories to follow the uniform fishing ban within their respective territorial waters on the same lines as it is implemented in the Exclusive Economic Zones, asks the coastal States that prefer to implement a different ban period to ensure that there is no encroachment on the territorial waters of the other States that follow the uniform ban and in the EEZ.
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The Syda Rao technical committee had recommended that the ban should apply to all types of vessels except the traditional non-motorised units using no source of power for catching fish or for propulsion using fossil fuel along the coast.
But the office memorandum puts a ban on all fishing in the States’ territorial waters (0 to 12 nautical miles).
The State government is likely to implement a 45-day ban beginning June 15, a norm it has been following for decades based on scientific studies conducted by various agencies and researchers.
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Government’s grouse
But the government’s grouse is that its views were not heard by the technical committee and that no major consultation was held with stakeholders in the State.
Government terms it an encroachment on the rights of States
Claims its views not heard by technical committee