VEERASWAMI, C. J. :- This appeal by defendants 1 and 3 to 8 is from an order of the Subordinate Judge, Vellore. He declined to grant stay under Section 34 of the Arbitration Act, 1940. On 5-3-1972, a partnership deed was entered into between the parties which provided for settlement, by arbitration, of all disputes arising between the parties in the partnership. The husband of one of the partners was named as the Arbitrator. This relationship, and there is no dispute about it, was known to all the parties concerned at the time the partnership agreement was entered into. Notwithstanding the arbitration clause, the plaintiffs-respondents instituted a suit for partition and also dissolution of the partnership. The appellants have no objection to the suit being proceeded with so far as it related to partition, but resisted the suit in respect of the relief for dissolution of the partnership, on the ground that it should be dealt with in arbitration. The Subordinate Judge declined to grant stay, as, in his view, the arbitrator's wife, who was one of the partners, according to the plaintiffs, was responsible for expelling the plaintiffs from the firm and the arbitrator was not l