India on Saturday (May 16, 2026) rejected an award reportedly issued by the Court of Arbitration (CoA) at The Hague on May 15, 2026, concerning maximum pondage at Indian hydroelectric projects on the Indus river system, reiterating that it does not recognise the tribunal as legitimately constituted.

“India categorically rejects the present so-called award, just as it has firmly rejected all prior pronouncements of the illegally constituted CoA,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, adding that any proceeding or decision of the body was “null and void.” India’s decision to hold the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance, he said, remained in force.

No official communication of the award is publicly available on the website of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), which acts as secretariat to the CoA. So the details of the pondage award were unavailable. The most recent press release listed there is dated May 11, 2026 which announced the conclusion of a three-day hearing held on April 28 on Pakistan’s request for interim measures and on the status of the Treaty itself.

The CoA is a five-member arbitral panel chaired by Prof. Sean D. Murphy, constituted in January 2023. It was set up at Pakistan’s request after Islamabad challenged the design of India’s Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects. India has refused to participate, arguing that the technical questions involved fall within the remit of a Neutral Expert appointed in parallel by the World Bank

“In its August 2025 Award on Issues of General Interpretation, the CoA ruled largely in Pakistan’s favour, restricting how India calculates permissible pondage for run-of-river plants and narrowing the design latitude available under the Treaty.

The Court most recently concluded a three-day hearing on April 28, 2026 on Pakistan’s request for interim measures and on the status of the Treaty itself. A PCA press release said Pakistan was represented by Acting Co-Agent Syed Haider Shah along with counsel including Sir Daniel Bethlehem KC and Prof. Philippa Webb KC, while India did not respond to an invitation to participate and did not appear.

India placed the IWT in abeyance in April 2025 following the Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 civilians were killed in Jammu and Kashmir.