TA Bench of Justices R.F. Nariman and B.R. Gavai held that Section 34 of the Arbitration Act, 1996 cannot be held to include within it a power to modify an award. The Bench observed that if one were to include the power to modify an award in Section 34 of the Arbitration and

Conciliation Act, 1996, one would be crossing the Lakshman Rekha and doing what, according to the justice of a case, ought to be done. In interpreting a statutory provision, a Judge must put himself in the shoes of Parliament and then ask whether Parliament intended this result. Parliament very clearly intended that no power of modification of an award exists in Section 34 of the Arbitration Act, 1996. It is only for Parliament to amend the aforesaid provision in the light of the experience of the courts in the working of the Arbitration Act, 1996, and bring it in line with other legislations the world over.