( 1 ) OTH these appeals are disposed of by a common judgment, as the point the determination in both of them is identical although the respondents in the two appeals are different.

( 2 ) THE Security and Finance Private Limited, which is the appellant in both these appeals, filed applications under section 14 of the Indian Arbitration Act, 1940 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) for filing the award of the arbitrator and for passing a decree in terms of the award. The respondents opposed these applications oil various grounds and one of the grounds was that the reference to the arbitrator was made unilaterally by one of the parties to the disputes, namely, the appellant herein, and that, therefore, the abitrator had no jurisdiction to enter upon the reference. This objection was upheld by the learned Subordinate Judge and he dimissed the applications filed by the appellant. The appellant has filed the present appeals against the said judgments of the learned Subordinate Judge.

( 3 ) THE facts are not in dispute. The reference to the arbitrator was made only by the appellant and the respondents did not join in the reference. They also did not appear before the arb