On petition of any of the parties to the arbitration agreement and upon notice thereof to the other parties, the court shall appoint one or more referees in any of the following cases:
(a) When the arbitration agreement does not stipulate the manner of appointing same.
(b) When the arbitration agreement stipulates the manner of appointing referees, but none of them has been appointed and the term within which they should have been appointed has expired.
(c) When a referee fails to act or is unable to act, and his successor has not been duly appointed.
(d) The court shall, in its discretion, appoint one (1) or three (3) referees, according to the importance of the dispute involved in any of the preceding cases in which the agreement is silent as to the number of referees.
The referees appointed by the court shall have the same powers as if appointed in conformity with the arbitration agreement.
History —May 8, 1951, No. 376, p. 896, § 5, eff. 90 days after May 8, 1951.