Judgment

S. K. DAS, J.

( 1 ) THESE four appeals, all with special leave of this Court, have been heard together because they raise common questions of law and fact. This judgment will govern them all.

( 2 ) IN the High Court of Calcutta, in or about February-July, 1961, a series of applications numbering about 170 were filed by sellers of raw jute. The main relief asked for by those applications was the revocation of the authority of an arbitrator appointed under certain contracts which the applicants had entered into with the respondents in circumstances which we shall presently state. Except in two or three cases the respondents were all jute mill companies which purchase raw jute and manufacture finished goods therefrom. The main controversy which these applications gave rise to was dealt with by the High Court in its judgment dated 14/09/1961, in the application entitled Ram Kumar Chhotaria v. Titaghur Jute Factory Co. Ltd. , (Matter No. 20 of 1961 (Cal ) before the High Court ). Certain special points arising in some of the other applications were dealt with in separate judgments. The High Court stated in its judgment in Matter No. 20 of 1961 (Cal), that the only relief, among t