Which of the following statements is/are correct regarding the modification of arbitral awards in India? 1. The Supreme Court ruled that courts have an absolute and unlimited power to rewrite arbitral awards under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. 2. The recent Constitution Bench ruling allows courts to apply the doctrine of severability to remove non-arbitrable parts of an award.

Question

Accepted Answer

B) 2 only — Statement 1 is incorrect because the power to modify is 'limited' (restricted to correcting manifest errors or severing invalid parts), not an absolute power to rewrite the award on merits. Statement 2 is correct as the ruling explicitly allows severing non-arbitrable parts to save the valid portions of the award.

SC Allows Modification of Arbitral Awards

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