Hello Kamal
Territorial waters means that portion of sea which is adjacent to the shores of a country. At present it's 12 nautical miles. (Its since 1967 and can't be ordinarily changed)
There is another term 'Exclusive economic zone' which extends to 200 nautical miles from the base-line for our country.
In territorial waters a country has complete control in respect to airway, sea route as well as sea bed; however in exclusive economic zone although country has exclusive rights to use it for economic purposes , other countries have right of navigation and over-flight rights. Other countries can lay submarine cables and pipelines with consent of Indian Government.
Although I havent read the case but I think court has referred territorial waters in terms of 'Exclusive Economic Zone' of our country.
CAclubindia
