Non-signatory LLP can still be joined in arbitration where disputes arise from the LLP agreement and its business affairs.

An LLP may be brought into arbitration even if it is not a signatory to the LLP agreement where the dispute concerns the construction or application of that agreement, the business or affairs of the LLP, or the rights, duties and liabilities governed by it. The LLP Act, 2008 and the First Schedule support arbitration of disputes arising out of the LLP agreement, and the LLP is not treated as a stranger to arrangements regulating its own affairs. Questions of joinder, maintainability, and the scope of claims were treated as matters for the arbitral tribunal's jurisdictional competence, and the objection based solely on non-signatory status was rejected.

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Issues: Whether a limited liability partnership, though not a signatory to the LLP agreement, can be brought into arbitration arising out of disputes between a partner and the LLP.

Analysis: The arbitration clause in the LLP agreement was wide enough to cover disputes relating to the construction or application of the agreement, the business or affairs of the LLP, and the rights, duties and liabilities of the parties under it. The LLP was not a stranger to the agreement governing its own affairs. Under the statutory scheme of the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008, the LLP agreement regulates the mutual rights and duties of the partners and of the LLP with its partners. The First Schedule also contemplates arbitration of disputes arising out of the LLP agreement, reinforcing that the LLP may be a necessary participant in such disputes. Questions as to joinder, maintainability, and the scope of claims were held to be matters for the arbitral tribunal under its jurisdictional competence.

Conclusion: The objection that the LLP could never be proceeded against because it was not a signatory to the LLP agreement was rejected, and the request for reference to arbitration was allowed.

Final Conclusion: The dispute was held to be arbitrable notwithstanding the LLP's non-signatory status, and an arbitral tribunal was constituted to decide the merits and ancillary issues.

Ratio Decidendi: In disputes governed by an LLP agreement and the statutory scheme of the LLP Act, a non-signatory LLP may still be a proper and necessary party to arbitration where the controversy concerns the LLP's business, affairs, rights, duties, or liabilities under the agreement.

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