PREM NATH L GANESH DASS Vs. PREM NATH L RAM NATH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE facts so far as relevant for purposes of the point arising in this case are that during the course of execution proceedings for the execution of a money decree, the judgment-debtor filed an application under Order 21, Rule 2, for according adjustment of decree to the extent of Rs. 3,400/- which sum, it was maintained by the judgment-debtor, had been paid by him to the decree-holder. Before the executing Court, both the parties agreed that the dispute about the payment of rs. 3,400/- should be decided by Shri Daulat Ram Tandon, Advocate, acting as the sole arbitrator. This dispute was referred to the sole arbitrator through the intervention of the Court on 21st March, 1960. On 25th August, 1960, before the award had been made, the judgment-debtor applied to the executing Court for the supersession of the reference alleging that the dispute was not referable to arbitrator during the course of the execution proceedings and consequently the proceedings before the arbitrator were void. Misconduct on the part of the arbitrator was also alleged. The executing Court framed the following issues:

(2.) SHRI Babu Ram Aggarwal, learned counsel for the judgment-debtor-appellant has drawn our attention to the following provisions of the Arbitration Act.

(3.) IN our view, this case hinges exclusively on the construction of the language of section 21 depending upon the meaning of "suit" occurring there. Regardless of the context in which' the term has been used, "suit" in its common parlance is a term of wide amplitude. Broadly, a "suit" is a proceeding in a Court of justice for the enforcement of a right denoting a legal proceeding of a civil kind. It is a proceeding in a Court according to the forms of law to enforce the remedy to which a party deems itself entitled. Lord Coke defines a suit to be. "actio nihil aliud est, quam jus persequendi in judicio quod sibi debetur" meaning "an action is nothing else than the right of pursuing in a Court of justice, that which is due to one". Blackstone I simply says that a "suit" or "action" is a legal demand of one's rights. In its generic sense, a "suit" is the pursuit or prosecution of some claim. The term "suit" in its comprehensive sense may be treated as applying to any original proceeding in a Court of justice by which a party pursues the remedy which the law grants him. The modes of proceedings may be various depending upon the different stages in the litigation, that is, proceedings in the original court, Court of appeal, proceedings in the nature of review or revision and execution proceedings. This legal signification of the word "suit" is very broad, and the term has also a much narrower meaning when it is examined in the procedural sense. "suit" is no doubt a judicial proceeding, but every such proceeding cannot be termed a suit. As observed by Lord Russel of Killowen in Hansraj Gupta v. Dehra dun-Mussoorie Electric Tramway Co. Ltd. , 60 Ind App 13: (AIR 1933 PC 63 ).