SERAJUDDIN AND CO Vs. MICHAEL GOLODETZ

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN this appeal, which arises out of an application under Section 34 of the INdian Arbitration Act and in which the plaintiff-appellant Serajuddin and Co. seeks reversal of an order of stay of its suit under the said section, pending a certain arbitration proceeding, two questions arise for consideration. The first is whether the said section has any application to the instant case and the second relates to the exercise of discretion under that section. Before the learned trial Judge (Ray, J.), another point was also urged, namely, whether the arbitration clause in question suffers from any material vagueness which would render it inoperative or ineffective in law. But that point was not pressed before us by the learned Counsel who appeared in support of the appeal.

(2.) THE learned trial Judge held, inter alia, that Section 34 of the Indian Arbitration Act applied to the present case and that it was a fit case for the exercise of his Discretion under that section in favour of the defendants applicants Michael Golodetz and others and, accordingly, he stayed the plaintiff's suit under that section. THE aggrieved plaintiff has now appealed before us.

(3.) ON July 5, 1955, the parties to the present proceedings namely, the defendants petitioners Michael Golodetz and others, carrying on business in New York under the name and style of Michael Golodetz and Co., (a firm registered in New York under the appropriate law) and the plaintiff opposite party Serajuddin and Co., fa firm registered under the Indian Partnership Act), which was the respondent to the Section 34 application in the court below, entered into an agreement (Contract No. 585) in writing for the purchase and sale of 25,000 tons of manganese ore of certain specifications at a price, mentioned in the said agreement. Under the terms of the above contract, delivery was to be made according to the following schedule, namely,