1. Heard.

2. A short but interesting question that arises for consideration is:

Whether an arbitrator appointed under section 84 of the Multi State Cooperative Societies Act has jurisdiction to entertain a claim and/or pass an award against an acceptor of a bill of exchange who is not its member merely on the ground that the drawer of the bill is its member?

3. The facts of the case in a narrow compass may be briefly stated thus:­

The petitioner is a nationalised bank and the respondent no.1 is a Multi-State Cooperative

Bank. Mr. Dinesh Rupasri, the respondent no.2 herein is a member of the respondent no.1. He was sanctioned bill discounting facility by the respondent no.1. The respondent no.2 allegedly sold certain goods to the respondent no.3 who is a constituent of the petitioner bank. The respondent no.2 drew bills of exchange/hundies in three sets between 6th October 2000 and 2nd February 2001 for the price of the goods sold by him to the respondent no.3. The bills were accepted by the respondent no.3 and coaccepted by the petitioner as a banker of the respondent no.3. On the due dates, the bills were dishonoured by nonpayment. According to the petitioner, the bills were