- (1.) THIS is an appeal against an order passed by the lower Court under Section 34 of the arbitration Act.
(2.) THE plaintiff and the defendants entered into a contract on 18-2-1949, the relevant portion of which is as follows: "we confirm having bought from you through your sole selling agents M/s Charan Company of kanpur on the terms and conditions of the Indian Sugar Syndicate Contract Form, the following sugar. " A copy of the printed form of contract issued by the Indian Sugar Syndicate Ltd. was filed on behalf of the defendants and it was urged that the parties had agreed to the matter being referred to arbitration and the suit should, therefore, be stayed in accordance with the provisions of section 34 of the Arbitration Act. The question, therefore, arose what the parties meant by the words "on the terms and conditions of the Indian Sugar Syndicate Contract Form. " In that printed form the relevant words are: "an AGREEMENT made this. . . . . . . . day of. . . . 19. . between. . . . . . . . (Seller) and. . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Buyer) for the sale of the following goods by the Seller to the Buyer upon the following terms a'nd conditions" Then the terms and conditions are set out in a number of paragraphs. In paragraph 17 of the agreement it is set out that in the case of a dispute the matter shall be referred to arbitration, that if the parties agreed there will be a sole arbitrator and that if they did not agree each would nominate his own arbitrator and the arbitrators would appoint an umpire. In case, however, the arbitrators did not agree to the appointment of an umpire or the umpire or the arbitrators did not give their award within thirty days the dispute shall be referred to arbitration "under the Rules of the Tribunal of Arbitration of. . . . . . . . Chamber of Commerce applicable for the time being for decision and such decision shall be accepted as final and binding on both parties to this Contract. The Buyer and Seller agree that all such disputes are to be settled at. . . . . . . . . . "
(3.) THE blanks within the inverted commas were not filled in and the question is whether by reason, of those blanks not having been filled in it could be said that the parties had not agreed to the arbitration clause. A reference, however, to this part of the agreement would show that it was not necessary to fill in the blanks inasmuch as the Arbitration Act contains provisions about the appointment of an umpire if the arbitrators do not appoint an umpire or if the umpire or the arbitrators do not give their award within time. In the circumstances the lower Court came to the conclusion that the parties must be deemed to have agreed to the arbitration clause excluding the portion where the blanks were not filled in as that portion was really unnecessary in view of the provisions of the Arbitration Act. In our view the decision of the lower Court is correct.;