A party that merely disagrees with the MERITS of an arbitral award, or with the tribunal's reasoning, wishes to have the award set aside. Under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, the court:

The scheme of Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act is that judicial review of an award is LIMITED and not a de facto appeal on merits. The court does not substitute its own view of the evidence or the law for the tribunal's, and an award is set aside only on the specified grounds (incapacity, invalid agreement, want of proper notice, award beyond scope, irregular composition/procedure, or conflict with public policy of India, including the narrower concept of 'patent illegality' on the face of the award). A divergent opinion on merits is not a ground. This non-merits standard is the defining principle of arbitration finality.