1.1. The Government of the People‘s Republic of Bangladesh (hereinafter ‗Bangladesh‘), by its Note Verbale of 8 October 20091 notified the Republic of India (hereinafter ‗India‘) that having failed to reach a settlement after negotiations and exchanges of views, Bangladesh had now elected to submit the dispute concerning the delimitation of the maritime boundary with India to the arbitral procedure provided for in Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (hereinafter ‗UNCLOS‘). Upon the constitution of the present Tribunal in accordance with article 3 of Annex VII to UNCLOS, the Rules of Procedure (hereinafter ‗Rules‘) were adopted on 26 May 2010. Article 9 of the Rules prescribes the dates for filing the pleadings in the case. Bangladesh filed its Memorial on 31 May 2011. India was scheduled to file its Counter-Memorial on or before 31 May 2012. Pursuant to a request by India, in conformity with paragraph 5 of article 9 of the Rules, this date was extended to 31 July 2012 in order to allow India to take into account the judgment of 14 March 2012 of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (hereinafter the ‗ITLOS‘) in the case between Bangladesh and Myanmar. Accordingly, India submits this Counter-Memorial in response to the Memorial of Bangladesh of 31 May 2011. 

I. The Dispute Submitted to the Tribunal 

1.2 In its Statement of Claim accompanying the aforesaid Notification of 8 October 2009, Bangladesh described the subject-matter of arbitration as the dispute concerning the delimitation of the maritime boundary of Bangladesh with India in the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf in the Bay of Bengal. In its Statement of Claim, Bangladesh further states