JUDGMENT

R.C. Lahoti, J.-Leave granted in both the SLPs.

2. The respondent-International Security and Intelligence Agency Ltd. entered into a contract with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi whereby the former undertook to provide security services etc. to the latter. The agreement contained an arbitration clause obligating the parties to have the disputes arising between them and referable to the contract determined by reference to arbitration under the provisions of the Arbitration Act, 1940, hereinafter the Act , for short.

3. It appears that originally when the agreement was entered into between the parties the respondents were a sole proprietory concern and the appellant No. 1 was an institution known as Delhi Development Authority (Slum Wing). Subsequently, the respondents, the sole proprietory concern, was taken over by a private limited company as the respondents presently are while the DDA (Slum Wing) was taken over by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. Whether or not the arbitration clause incorporated in the contract entered into between the parties as they were then, would be binding on and available to be invoked by the present parties, was the subject matter of contr