The Kishanganga Arbitration: Summary of the Awards of the Tribunal Badrinath Srinivasan

Readers interested in reading the entire Kishanganga dispute can go through the posts in this blog under the Label Arbitration: Indus ater Treaty !ispute which contains several small as well as lengthy posts on various facets of the decision" This short post is to summari#e the outcome of the developments in the arbitration" The title$ one may note$ uses the term %Awards% instead of %Award% as there are a total of three awards in the matter" The three are the &artial Award '(eb )*+,-$ Interpretation Award '!ec )*+,and the (inal Award '!ec )*+,-" The summary of these three awards are given below: Since the Kishanganga pro.ect is a Run/of/River &lant$ India is entitled under the Indus ater Treaty to divert the water from the river for the purpose of generation of electricity" '&artial Award The Treaty does not permit India to reduce the level of the water stored in the Kishanganga dam below the !ead Storage Level of the water level$ e0cept in case of 1nforeseen 2mergency" 3owever$ this prohibition is applicable in Run/of/River plants which are either in e0istence on the date of the &artial Award or are under construction after e0change of designs of such pro.ects to &a4istan and &a4istan has not ob.ected to it" '&artial Award !esilting using the drawdown flushing method does not constitute 1nforeseen 2mergency for the purposes of the Treaty" '&artial Award hile India5s right to diver the waters under the Treaty is available$ such a right is not absolute" India is obligated to ta4e into consideration the e0isting uses by &a4istan of the river for hydroelectric and agricultural uses" '&artial Award &a4istan5s uses as provided above are to be considered from two relevant points of time/ '+at the time the Kishanganga pro.ect crystallised$ and ')- on an ongoing basis throughout the operation of the Kishanganga plant" '&artial Award 6onse7uently$ India has the obligation to maintain a minimum flow of water downstream the Kishanganga pro.ect" '&artial Award India5s obligation is to maintain a minimum flow of 8 cubic metres per second of water below the plant at all times at which the upstream flow is 8 cubic metres per second or above" '(inal Award 2ither party may see4 reconsideration of the minimum flow of 8 cubic metres per second as provided above seven years after the diversion of the waters from the Kishanganga river for the purposes of power generation" '(inal Award Such reconsideration may either be through the &ermanent Indus 6ommission or under the mechanisms built in into the Treaty" '(inal Award The prohibition on the reduction of level of water in the Run/of/River &lant below the !ead Storage Level is of general applicability under the Treaty and is not restricted merely to the Kishanganga plant" 'Interpretation Award-" The prima facie view on the award is that it seems to balance interests of both parties by protecting India5s right to harness the river water system and at the same time protect the interests of the riparian &a4istan"