JUDGMENT

1. The petitioners, having suffered an award passed by the learned Arbitral Tribunal, consisting of a sole arbitrator, on 21st January, 2021, have approached this Court under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (the 1996 Act) for setting aside the award.

2. The only ground urged by Mr. Chaudhary, learned counsel for the petitioners, is that the appointment of the arbitrator, who arbitrated on the dispute, was illegal.

3. When this matter had come up before this Court on an earlier occasion, the stand of Mr. Chaudhary was that there was no arbitration agreement in existence between the parties. This stand was vociferously opposed by Ms. Mallika Ahluwalia, learned counsel for the respondent, who undertook to place the arbitration agreement on record.

4. Subsequently, under cover of an affidavit, dated 12th August, 2021, the respondent has placed on record the loan agreement, executed between the parties, which contains the following unequivocal arbitration clause:

"2.1 Any Dispute arising out of the Business Loan Agreement, shall be referred to a sole arbitrator, from amongst those listed in Schedule hereto, as per his/her availability, in the order of prefer