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TMI Blog1976 (4) TMI 222X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d the arbitration agreement does not show that it was intended that the vacancy should not be supplied, and the parties or the arbitrators, as the case may be, do not supply the vacancy; or (c) where the parties or the arbitrators are required to appoint an umpire and do not appoint him; any party may serve the other parties or the arbitrators, as the case may be, with a written notice to concur in the appointment or appointments or in supplying the vacancy. (2) If the appointment is not made within fifteen clear days after the service of the said notice, the Court may, on the application of the party who gave the notice and after giving the other parties an opportunity of being heard, appoint an arbitrator or arbitrators or umpire, as the case may be, who shall have like power to act in the reference and to make an award as if he or they had been appointed by consent of all parties. The question that arises for consideration is whether the court having appointed an arbitrator under subsection (2) of section 8 can proceed further to make an order of reference to the arbitrator. According to the respondent the court becomes functions officio after appointing an arbitrat ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ansferred the cases to the Judge of the Small Cause Court, Meerut, presumably on the assumption that the respondent s applications for the appointment of an arbitrator were pending. If the respondents contention is right, this was an erroneous assumption, but no objection was raised at the time and the Judge of the Small Cause Court by his order dated February 13, 1951 appointed Director of Farms, General Headquarters, Simla, to act as arbitrator in all the seven cases. In that order the court further directed as follows: All these cases should be referred to him for arbitration. He must file his award within one month of this order. The papers were then sent to Brigadier H. L. Bhandari who was. said to be the officer concerned. The respondent applied to the court on March 8, 1951 for review of the order alleging that the office of the Director of Farms, General Headquarters, Simla, had been abolished and as such Brig. H. L. Bhandari could not be the officer mentioned in the order. The respondent did not take part in the proceedings be fore Brig. Bhandari, but before he moved the court on May 4, 1951 for stay of the proceedings before the arbitrator, the latter had made his ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s of arbitration: (i) arbitration without intervention of a court, dealt with in chapter II of the Act which includes section 3 to section 19; (ii) arbitration with intervention of a court where there is no suit pending, dealt with in chapter III which consists of only one section, viz. section 20; and (iii) arbitration in suits which is covered by chapter IV. It is clear from the provisions of chapter II that after the appointment of arbitrator, the proceedings are to be outside court, and up to the stage of filing the award intervention of court is not of unless any occasion arises requiring the court to remove the arbitrator under section 11. An agreement to submit differences to arbitration implies an agreement to refer the differences to the arbitrator. Section only empowers the court to appoint an arbitrator where the parties do not concur in the appointment. Section 20 occurring in chapter III. contains provisions for arbitration with the intervention of a court where there is no suit pending. Section 20 reads: Application to file in Court arbitration agreement. 20(l) Where any persons have entered into an arbitration agreement before the institution of any suit with ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ting aside an award is in these terms:- Grounds for setting aside award. 30. An award shall not be set aside except on one or more of the following grounds, namely: (a) that an arbitrator or umpire has misconducted him self or the proceedings; (b) that an award has been made after his issue of an order by the Court superseding the arbitration or after arbitration proceedings have become invalid under section 35; (c) that an award has been improperly procured or is otherwise invalid. According to the respondent an award obtained on an invalid reference is also invalid and is covered by clause (c) of section 30. It was argued on behalf of the appellant, on the authority of the Privy Council in Chhabbe Lal v. Kallu Lal and others(1), that the words otherwise invalid in section 30(c) did not cover a case where the award was challenged on the ground of some invalidity attaching to anything outside the award itself. In Chhabbe Lal s case the Privy Council held that an objection to the validity of a reference to arbitration did not come within the provisions of paragraph 15 of the 2nd schedule to the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, which provided that no award was to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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