Section 34 and the Limits of Challenging an Arbitral Award

An arbitral award is meant to be final. A practical look at the narrow grounds on which Indian courts will actually interfere under Section 34.

When a party loses an arbitration, the instinct is to challenge the award in court. In practice, the Arbitration and Conciliation Act gives courts a deliberately narrow window to interfere.

Section 34 is not an appeal. A court will not reweigh the evidence or substitute its own view of the merits. It intervenes only on limited grounds, and the "public policy" ground has been steadily narrowed by the Supreme Court.

The lesson is strategic: the time to win an arbitration is during the arbitration. We build the record with enforcement in mind, so an award, once obtained, is difficult to unsettle.