Courts Power to Modify Arbitral Awards: Gayatri Balasamy v. ISG Novasoft Technologies Ltd.

This case comment explores the landmark decision in Gayatri Balasamy v. ISG Novasoft Technologies Ltd., where a five-judge Constitution Bench settled a critical conflict regarding the scope of judicial intervention in Indian arbitration. The central issue was whether the statutory power to "set aside" an arbitral award under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, implicitly grants courts the power to "modify" it. The Supreme Court ruled that courts do not have the jurisdiction to modify arbitral awards, reaffirming the principle of limited judicial intervention intended by the 1996 Act. The judgment clarifies that while courts cannot alter an arbitrator's decision to achieve substantive justice, they retain the power to "sever" invalid portions of an award, provided they are not inextricably linked to the valid parts, or to "remit" the award back to the tribunal to cure defects.