1. By this order, I shall dispose of three applications being I.A No. 5453/2008, I.A No. 5454/2008 and I.A No. 5455/2008 in CS (OS) No. 337/2008. I.A No. 5453/2008 and I.A No. 5454/2008 have been filed by Defendant No. 1 under Order 39 Rule 4 of the CPC, 1908 for setting aside the ex-parte order dated February 20, 2008 and under Section 8 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 for reference of the dispute between parties to arbitration respectively, and I.A No. 5455/2008 has been filed by Defendant No. 2 under Order I Rule 13 of CPC, 1908 for its deletion from the array of parties.

2. Briefly, the facts of the suit filed by the plaintiff are the following. Both the plaintiff and Defendant No. 2 deal in the sale and marketing of similar products i.e. evaporative cooling components, products and systems. The plaintiff submits that Defendant No. 1 joined M/s Artic India Sales as Area Sales Manager in 1998. The said company was a proprietary concern of Mr. Deepak Pahwa. In 2000, Defendant No. 1 was transferred to Arctic India Engineering Pvt. Ltd. with length of service counted from 1998. This company is one of the group companies owned by Mr. Deepak Pahwa and