( 1 ) THE respondents had entired into a hirepurchase agreement with the appellant Company, and in that agreement there was an arbitration clause. Certain disputes having arisen subsequently, the appellant-Company handed over the dispute to the arbitrator named in the agreement. The respondents did not appear before the arbitrator nor otherwise submit to his jurisdiction, and in the result, an ex-parte award was made. When the award was filed in Court and a prayer for a decree on its basis made by the appellant-Company, several objections were raised by the respondents. One of these was that they had never consented to tire dispute being REFERRED TO the arbitrator, and the reference was, therefore, invalid as such a reference in law required the assent of both the parties and failing that an order of the Court. This objection prevailed and the learned Subordinate Judge hearing the case held that the reference to the arbitrator was invalid and incompetent. He relied for this on a judgment of the Supreme Court in Thawardas v. Union of India. In the result, the appellant s application was dismissed and the award set aside and it is against that decision that the present appeal is