O R D E R

The third defendant came up with this Revision, aggrieved by the order dated 6.12.2012 in I.A.No.2598 of 2012 in I.A.No.1631 of 2012 in O.S.No.256 of 2012 on the file of the Munsiff's Court, Thalassery.

2. The said application was filed under Section 8 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, (for short 'the Act') for referring the parties to arbitration, based on an arbitration clause in an agreement. It was admittedly filed within the time available for submitting the first statement by the respective defendants. Along with the application, the arbitration agreement was also produced. The lower court has rejected the application mainly on the reason that the first defendant is not a party to the arbitration agreement and hence it is not binding on him. The petitioner relied on the decision in Aerents Goldsouk International Ltd. v. Parthas Textiles (2012 (1) KLT 515) in support of the argument that even in the absence of an arbitration clause operating between all parties to the suit, a reference under Section 8 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act is possible to the extent of arbitration clause which is binding on some of the parties to the suit and for that pur