Lok Sabha today cleared a Bill to create commercial benches in select high courts to settle high value commercial disputes, with the government saying the measure is aimed at providing "speedy and time-bound disposal" of cases necessary for accelerating the economic growth.
The Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Bill, 2015 was passed by voice vote in the absence of Congress party which was boycotting the House over some actions by Arunachal Pradesh Governor.
Replying to the discussion on the Bill, Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda said the Bill has been brought with the intention of accelerating economic growth and improving the international image of India's justice delivery system.
The need of the hour is "speedy and time-bound disposal" of cases, he said.
The legislation provides for transfer of all pending suits and applications relating to commercial disputes involving a claim of Rs one crore and above in the High Courts and civil courts to the relevant Commercial Division or Commercial Courts as the case may be.
Commercial Divisions are proposed to be set up in those High Courts, such as those in Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras and Himachal Pradesh, which are already exercising ordinary original civil jurisdiction.
The Commercial Divisions would exercise jurisdiction over all cases and applications relating to commercial disputes. The Commercial Division shall have territorial jurisdiction over such area on which it has original jurisdiction.
Commercial Courts, which will be equivalent to district courts, are to be set up in states and Union Territories where the high courts do not have ordinary original civil jurisdiction.
The proposed law comes amid keenness of the government to
attract the greater foreign investment.
The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 7 and the government has made some amendments after taking into consideration recommendations by a Parliamentary panel.
Rejecting concerns raised by some members that the bill is to benefit rich people, Gowda said it does not infringe on the rights of poor people.
Rather, setting up of commercial benches in High Courts would help reduce the number of pending litigations and thereby waiting cases would move up.
"We will see that big reforms are there in the judiciary," the Law Minister said.
In October, government had promulgated the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Ordinance, 2015, when a bill in this regard was pending with a Parliamentary Standing Committee.
Opposing the bill, N K Premachandran (RSP) said it violates Article 14 of the Constitution by according special treatment and speedier justice for high-value commercial disputes.
He accused the government of working for the benefit of the rich in its bid to promote ease of doing business.
Also, the bill did not properly define "commercial disputes" leaving it to the executive to specify what would constitute commercial disputes, though it is a legislative function, Premachandran said.
He said the government had not followed the Parliamentary procedure in introducing the bill in the Lok Sabha, as a similar bill was pending in the Rajya Sabha.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu appreciated Premachandran for his "hard work" and said "we may agree or disagree, but I should at least compliment the member."
Dushyant Chautala (INLD) demanded that the monetary limit for adjudicating commercial disputes should be reduced from Rs 1 crore to Rs 25 lakh and suggested setting up of a system of appointment of judges through a competitive examination.
Referring to the scrapping of the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act by the Supreme Court recently, he said the duty of judges is not to appoint judges but to deliver justice.
He said over 2 crore disputes, which include 40 lakh commercial disputes, are pending in different courts.
Varaprasad Rao Velagapalli (YSRCP) supported the bill, saying it would promote economic growth by making India as a hub for resolving international commercial disputes.
The government, he added, should also contemplating setting up an Indian Judicial Services to make judiciary more accountable.
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Gowda moved an official amendment to delete the term 'appellate' from Section 10 (1) and Section 10 (2) of the Bill dealing with 'jurisdiction in respect of arbitration matters.'
After the amendment, the section will mean 'commercial division of a High Court' and not 'commercial appellate division'.
The Minister said the government is taking various steps to ensure speedy disposal of pending cases. About five crore disposed as well as pending cases have been computerised so far, he added.
The number of pending cases before the Supreme Court stood at 58,879 as on November 30 this year compared to 66,692 pending cases at the end of December 2012, he noted.
"I concede that huge pendencies should not be there... There has been a small decrease in pendencies," Gowda said.
According to him, there were 41.53 lakh pending cases before various high courts at the end of December 2014 compared to 44.34 lakh such cases as on December 2012.
Participating in the discussion, CPI-M and BJD opposed the Bill saying it was aimed at serving the interest of corporates.
Parties, including TMC, AIADMK and Shiv Sena, supported the Bill and wanted the government to expeditiously fill up the vacancy in judges in various courts.
As compared to the old bill -- which was earlier introduced in the Rajya Sabha -- a clause has been amended thereby excluding all the six Tribunals/Boards from the appeal to be heard and disposed by the Commercial Appellate Division of the concerned High Court.
They are Competition Appellate Tribunal, Debts Recovery Appellate Tribunal, Intellectual Property Appellate Board, Company Law Board or the National Company Law Tribunal, Securities Appellate Tribunal and Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee, which gave its report on the old bill last week, agreed with the amendment which was part of the ordinance.
