S.S.SANDHAWALIA, J.

1. Whether an arbitrator in a reference under Sections 55 and 56 of the Punjab Cooperative Societies Act, 1961, has jurisdiction to grant future interest on the amount awarded till the date of its realisation is the solitary, though meaningful, question which falls for determination in this reference to a Full Bench.

2. The facts are of no great significance and it suffices to mention that Ajit Singh and others, respondents, had brought the writ petition (giving rise to the present Letters Patent Appeal) to challenge the arbitration award rendered by the Arbitrator on a dispute being referred to him under the Act, as also the appellate and the revisional orders upholding the same. The learned single Judge gave substantial relief to the petitioners and in particular held that the grant of future interest at the rate of six percent, by the arbitrator, till the principal amount was recovered was without jurisdiction and set aside the same. In doing so he placed reliance on a Division Bench judgement of this Court in Amar Kumar V/s. State of Punjab, 1975 Pun LJ 6. The writ petition was partly allowed and it is the common case that a Letters Patent Appeal pre