Environmental LawSupreme Court of India
Fisherman Care v. Government of India, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries
The Supreme Court held there is no real conflict between the Centre's power to regulate fishing in the EEZ (under Entry 57 of List I, exercised via the new EEZ Rules, 2025) and the State's power to regulate fishing within its territorial waters (under Entry 21 of List II, via the Tamil Nadu Marine Fishing Regulation Rules): these are two co-equal, autonomous legislative spheres that must operate together through "cooperative federalism." Following the Expert Committee's recommendations (that an outright ban on purse seine nets isn't justified but effective regulation is needed), the Union had already notified the EEZ Rules, 2025 creating an "Access Pass" system for vessels to transit through State waters into the EEZ. However, the Court found the on-ground implementation deeply flawed: of 257 access-pass applications, 226 were stuck pending verification by Tamil Nadu authorities, with only 6 passes actually issued, the lowest among all coastal States, which the Court said effectively amounted to an unwritten, unlawful ban. The Court directed Tamil Nadu to process applications efficiently and to frame rules designating a specific transit channel through its territorial waters for vessels headed to the EEZ, and disposed of the application on this basis.