Modification Of Arbitral Awards

This article charts the judicial trend in respect of modification or variance of arbitral awards by courts under the Indian arbitration regime and comments on the need for legislative amendments to avoid divergent views taken by courts.

Ensuring minimal judicial intervention in arbitral proceedings has been the cornerstone of the success of arbitration as an alternate dispute resolution mechanism in India.¹ While the parameters for challenge of an award under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (Act)² has been restricted over time, there have been divergent judicial opinions on whether a court is empowered to modify an arbitral award. While Section 34 of the Act sets out the stringent grounds under which an arbitral award may be set aside by a court, whether such power can be extended to 'modifying' an award instead of simply setting it aside and/or upholding it has not seen a consensus across courts in India. While the Supreme Court in McDermott Internationa