GITA MITTAL, J.

( 1 ) BY this judgment, I propose to decide this application filed by the defendants under Section 8 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 seeking a direction that the disputes which are the subject matter of the present suit, be referred to arbitration.

( 2 ) THE applicant places reliance on Clause 23 of an agreement dated 30th March, 2001 which was entered into between Dinesh Kumar Mathur, subhash Rohilla, Meera Mathur and Usha Rani Rohilla. Based thereon, the defendants/applicants have contended that the present suit cannot be proceeded with in the light of Section 8 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 and the disputes have to be referred to arbitration.

( 3 ) FOR the purposes of adjudication of the present application, a distinction has to be borne in mind with regard to the suit claim and the subject matter of the arbitration agreement. In order to appreciate this distinction, it would be necessary to examine a few essential facts. It appears that M/s Alankar Ware Corporation, a partnership firm was established in the year 1973 between Shri Suraj Bhan Rohilla, son of Shri Saran, and Shri subhash Rohilla son of Shri Suraj Bhan Rohilla. It ap