JUDGMENT

Ram Lall, J. - One Mt. Dmrao Began was the daughter of Col. Altaf Ali who left her property. She used to live in Lyallpur and there became friendly with one Mohammad Din, Secretary of the Municipal Committee, Lyallpur, and this Mohammad Din used to help her in the management of her property. On 10th November 1932. Mt. Umrao Begam, at a time when she-alleges she was ill, signed a bond acknowledging a debt for a large sum of money in favour of Rahmat Ilahi, who is the brother of Mahbub Ilahi, alleged to be a friend of Mohammad Din mentioned above. Three-months after the execution of this bond, that is on 14th February 1933, a non-judicial stamp paper of the value of one rupee-was purchased at Lyallpur and on this an. agreement of reference to arbitration was stated to have been executed by Mt. Umrao Begam to settle the alleged dispute between Umrao Begam and Rahmat Ilahi, and one Abdul Hamid, Pleader of Lyallpur, was appointed arbitrator. On 28th February 1933, Mian Abdul Hamid gave an award, Ex. D. W. 2/2, by which he held that Mt. Umrao Begam had borrowed a sum of? Rs. 30,000 from Rahmat Ilahi and ordered that this sum was payable by Mt. Umrao Begam to Sheikh Rahmat Ilahi. In this award he further said that if the sum of Rs. 30,000 was paid within one year from, the date of the execution of the bond, that is, before 10th November 1933, no interest would be charged; otherwise interest would be payable at 6 per cent, per annum from 10th November 1932, the date of the execution of the bond till realization. On 2nd' March 1933, Rahmat Ilahi, through his Mukhtar, made an application to the Civil Court at Lyallpur praying that the said) award be filed by the arbitrator and a decree in terms thereof be passed in his favour against Mt. Umrao Begam. This, application is Ex. P. W. 3/2 in the case. On 14th March 1933, a reply to this application was made in the Court of the Senior Subordinate Judge in which objections were stated on behalf of Mt. Umrao Begam to the filing of the award. This is Ex. P/2 and purports to be signed by Mt. Umrao Begam and was presented through one Mr. K.L. Sindhi, Pleader, who appeared for her in these proceedings before the Senior Subordinate Judge. In Ex. P/2 it was alleged that the award of the arbitrator was liable to be set aside as no evidence had been allowed to be produced and as, Mt. Umrao Begam was a pardanashin lady against whom ex parte proceedings had been taken in a matter involving a very considerable sum of money and therefore fraud had been practised. On 14th March only one issue was framed: "Whether the arbitrator was guilty of misconduct and therefore the award is liable to be set aside?"

2. The parties were ordered to put in the lists of their witnesses and diet money on 18th March 1933. On 18th March 1933, Mt. Umrao Begam engaged another counsel, Sardar Iqbal Singh, who made an application alleging that Rahmat Ilahi through his mukhtar had not filed a copy of the plaint with his application and therefore no proper written statement could be filed, characterizing the written statement of 14th March 1933, filed by Mr. K.L. Sindhi as one which could not be termed a a written statement at all. A request was made, therefore, that a further and more detailed written statement be admitted and issues framed accordingly. A copy of the proposed new written statement was attached with this application and in this written statement various and detailed allegations of fraud were made. It was stated in this written statement that there was no debt and no dispute and that the proceedings before the arbitrator were entirely fictitious and the whole procedure was fraudulent from beginning to end and that undue advantage had been taken of the helplessness of a pardanashin woman to saddle her with the liability to pay a very large sum of money. The learned Senior Subordinate Judge made an order on this application of Sardar Iqbal Singh that notice in this connexion should issue to Khwaja Ghulam Hussai