Bengaluru, May 1 -- A constitution bench of the Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled by a 4-1 majority that appellate courts can modify arbitral awards "under certain circumstances", ending years of legal uncertainty over judicial powers in arbitration matters. The five-judge bench, however, emphasised that such modification powers must be exercised with "great caution" and only in limited scenarios. The ruling brings clarity to a long-standing ambiguity on whether courts' powers under Section 34 and Section 37 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, extend to modifying arbitral awards. These provisions deal with a court's authority in setting aside arbitral awards and appeals against such orders, respectively. Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and justices BR Gavai, Sanjay Kumar and AG Masih held that courts can exercise this limited power in four specific situations: where the award is severable, for correcting typographical or clerical errors, for correcting post-award interest in certain circumstances, and where the Supreme Court uses its Article 142 powers to "do complete justice to a case". Previously, courts were restricted to either upholding or setting aside awards entirely.P8...