JUDGMENT

Ruma Pal, J.-Leave granted.

2. The first named respondent is a share broker and was a member of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. (referred as the NSE ). The NSE which was initially named as the second respondent has been deleted from the array of parties at the instance of the appellant. We will therefore refer to the first respondent as the respondent. The appellant started trading in shares through the respondent. In March, 2001 three separate transactions were entered into between the appellant and respondent for purchase of three separate lots of shares of Amara Raja Batteries Ltd. The respondent s allegation is that the appellant did not make payment for the shares bought by the respondent for and on behalf of the appellant and that by reason of the non-payment for the shares, the NSE declared the respondent as a defaulter on 19th June 2001. On 21st June 2001, the respondent referred his claim against the appellant to Arbitration under the Bye-laws of the NSE. The appellant contested the claim and contended that the Arbitration reference under the Bye-laws was not maintainable on the ground that the same was filed after the respondent had been declared a defau