2012 (10) TMI 459 - SUPREME COURT

Suit for mortgaged property – Applicability of scope of section 8 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act – Held that:- There is no impediment for the parties to mortgage suits being referred to arbitration under section 8 of the Act - mortgage suit is not only about determination of the existence of the mortgage or determination of the amount due. It is about enforcement of the mortgage with reference to an immovable property and adjudicating upon the rights and obligations of several classes of persons who have the right to participate in the proceedings relating to the enforcement of the mortgage, vis-a-vis the mortgagor and mortgagee. Even if some of the issues or questions in a mortgage suit are arbitrable or could be decided by a private forum, the issues in a mortgage suit cannot be divided - suit being one for enforcement of a mortgage by sale, it should be tried by the court and not by an arbitral tribunal - appeal is accordingly dismissed