Judgment

HIDAYATULLAH, J. : This appeal by special leave is directed against an order of the High Court of Bombay dated March 22, 1960 in its ordinary original civil jurisdiction. The facts are simple. By a letter dated July 30, 1955, Messrs. Kajaria Traders (India) Ltd., who is the respondent here and Messrs. Foreign Import and Export Association (sole proprietary firm owned by the appellant Jagdish C. Gupta) entered into a partnership to export between January and June 1956, 10,000 tons of manganese ore to Phillips Brothers (India) Ltd., New York, Each partner was to supply a certain quantity of manganese ore. We are not concerned with the terms of the agreement but with one of its clauses which provided:

"That, in case of dispute the matter will be referred for arbitration in accordance with the Indian Arbitration Act.

The company alleged that Jagdish Chander Gupta failed to carry out his part of the partnership agreement. After some correspondence, the company wrote to Jagdish Chander Gupta on February 28, 1959 that they had appointed Mr. R. J. Kolah (Advocate O. S.) as their arbitrator and asked Jagdish Chander Gupta either to agree to Mr. Kolah s appointment as sole arbitrator