'No jurisdiction': India rejects World Bank court's Indus Waters ruling, says Treaty remains in abeyance
This comes after India had also rejected a May 2026 Court of Arbitration ruling on the amount of water it could store in reservoirs or dams under the Indus Waters Treaty, saying that the ruling was 'null and void'
This comes after India had also rejected a May 2026 Court of Arbitration ruling on the amount of water it could store in reservoirs or dams under the Indus Waters Treaty, saying that the ruling was 'null and void'.
This comes after India had also rejected a May 2026 Court of Arbitration ruling on the amount of water it could store in reservoirs or dams under the Indus Waters Treaty, saying that the ruling was 'null and void'.
This comes after India had also rejected a May 2026 Court of Arbitration ruling on the amount of water it could store in reservoirs or dams under the Indus Waters Treaty, saying that the ruling was 'null and void'.
India on Monday again rejected a ruling from the World Bank's Court of Arbitration (CoA) on its decision to hold the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) with Pakistan in abeyance after the Pahalgam massacre of April 2025 and the hostilities that followed.
As per a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), issued from Bishkek (where the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit will take place till September 1), India rejected both the ruling—which the interim court calls an "award"—on the IWT's Interim Measures and Status, and the interim court itself.
"This so-called Court was constituted by the World Bank in patent breach of the terms of the Treaty and India categorically rejects its so-called award, just as it has firmly rejected all prior pronouncements by this illegally constituted body," the MEA wrote in a statement.
It added that India has never appeared before this body—which it noted had no jurisdiction to make judgments on the suspension of the IWT—and has never taken cognisance of its earlier rulings.
The CoA had said that India's grounds were not adequate to justify the suspension or termination of the Indus Waters Treaty and that India had to observe its obligations under the pact, including those relating to the design and operation of its hydroelectric projects on the western rivers, a News18 report said.
The World Bank-backed interim court also decided to restrict India from concreting the RHEP dam wall and power intake structure above certain levels until 90 days after its Neutral Expert’s final decision, which is expected in July 2027.
Notably, the MEA in May 2026 had also rejected a CoA award on the amount of water India could store in reservoirs or dams under the Indus Waters Treaty, saying that the ruling was "null and void".
The CoA's “maximum pondage” ruling claimed that India could store less “live water” in its upcoming reservoirs than its engineers had planned. It also added that certain existing or proposed designs needed alteration for the projects to be within treaty-compliant “pondage”.