For discussion’s sake.
If I am inspecting a welded gear ring weldment the drawing specifies weld IAW AWS D1.1 Cyclically loaded connection.
The ring is made of 1/3 arc segments 3/8” thick welded in tongue and groove puzzle configuration welded with a PJP square groove joint ground flush.
I find that the butt joint has already been ground flush on the welded side.  the gear is off set (miss-aligned) between .04” and .07”. D1.1:2015 says;
” 5.21.3 Butt Joint Alignment. Parts to be joined at butt joints shall be carefully aligned. Where the parts are effectively restrained against bending due to eccentricity in alignment, the offset from the theoretical alignment shall not exceed 10% of the thickness of the thinner part joined, or 1/8 in [3 mm], whichever is smaller.”
10% of 3/8’ is .037”, so if the top of the joint has already been ground flush and even, this would mean that between .04” and .07”material has already been removed. This makes the Part non-conforming to D1.1. Then the repair idea is to grind the unwelded side to make it look flush. Would make between .08” and  .14” material reduction.
I’m thinking this would require the approval of the Owner/Customer’s engineer and not the contractor’s.

“5.25.3 Engineer’s Approval. Prior approval of the Engineer shall be obtained for repairs to base metal (other than those required by 5.14), repair of major or delayed cracks, repairs to ESW and EGW with internal defects, or for a revised design to compensate for deficiencies. The Engineer shall be notified before welded members are cut apart.”