DARSHAN SINGH Vs. FORWARD INDIA FINANCE PRIVATE LIMITED

JUDGEMENT

(1.) ON an application under Sections if and 20 of the Abritration Act, 1940, an award made by Shri Bakshi Man Singh, as bole Arbitrator was filed on the Original Side, of this Court and the proceedings were registered as Suit No. 436-A/75. iwo sets of objections were filed by Shri Darshan Singh, present appellant the this award ; they were numbered as T.A. Nos. 1592 and 1593 of 1975. The learned Single Judge, who dealt with these objections, treated the second set as superfluous and dealt only with the first objection petition.

(2.) THE facts of the case need to be explained betd iA some detail. THEre was a hire-purchase agreement,dated 18th January, 1956, between the appellant and M/s. Forward India Finance (P) Ltd. THE said agreement contained an arbitration clause which appointed Shri Bal Mukand Gupta, Advocate as the sole arbitrator. It appears that the Finance Company had invoked this arbitration clause in order to have the disputes arising from the said hire-purchase agreement which related to Dodge Truck No. DLD 5081 referred to the named Arbitrator. THE appellant filed a petition under Section 33 of the Arbitration Act before the Subordinate Judge which was Suit No. 33 of 1957. According to the appellant's case, there was no agreement and none had been executed by him and he claimed that there was a fraud. THE application was dismissed by Shri B.K. Agnihotri Subordinate Judge, by order dt. 30th September, 1961.

(3.) THE facts of the case have been detailed above by us. THE reference was made by D.K. Mahajan J., sitting.asa Revisional Court under the Code of Civil Procedure. It was made. as a result of a revision concerning an application under Section 33 of the Arbitration Act. THE proceedings thus started with an application before the Subordinate Judge which was dismissed and this was followed by a revision to the High Court. THE reference was, therefore, made by a Court and not by the parties.,of,course, the reference was made by the parties in the sense that they compromised the matter before the High Court sitting in revision. "THE written agreement between the parties, being the hire-purchase agreement, contained the name of Shri Bal Mukand Gupta, Advocate as the sole arbitrator. THEre was no written agreement to refer the matter to Mr. Jindra Lal, Bar-at-Law(as he then was). This reference was the result of the Court's order. We have now to see whether an award resulting from such a reference requires to be stamped. THE plain language of Article 12 indicates that if a reference is made by the Court, then the award is not to be stamped. It may well be said that this is a reference not made during the suit; it is one made in revision. For this purpose, it is sufficient to say that the initial proceedings before Shri B.K. Agnihotri, which were under Section 33 of the Arbitration Act, were numbered as a suit. It would, therefore, appear that the reference was made during a suit. THEre are Rules under the Arbitration Act which require that a proceedings there under should be registered as a suit. Thus, the provisions of Article 12 of the Stamp Act, 1899 are satisfied.