Govt floats Bill to set up dedicated commercial courts at district level

The Union law ministry has floated a draft Bill to amend the Commercial Courts Act which, among other things, proposes setting up of "dedicated" commercial courts at the district level.

Seeking views of the public on the proposed amendments, the department of legal affairs in the law ministry has said that the aim is to provide further impetus to "quicker and specialised adjudication" of commercial disputes and "simplification of the applicable procedure" related to commercial dispute resolution in courts.

According to the prevailing sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the Act, the state government after consulting the high court concerned constitutes such number of commercial courts at the district level as it may deem necessary.

 

The proposed sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the draft 'The Commercial Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2024,' states that the state government, after consulting the high court concerned, can constitute such number of commercial courts at the district level, "including dedicated commercial courts", as it may deem necessary.

The draft Bill also proposes an additional 30-day window for those seeking to appeal decrees of commercial courts.

According to the prevailing Section 13 of the law, any person aggrieved by the judgment or order of a commercial court below the level of a district judge may appeal to the Commercial Appellate Court within a period of 60 days from the date of judgment or order.

As per the proposed amendment, any person aggrieved by the judgment or order of a commercial court below the level of a district judge may appeal to the Commercial Appellate Court within a period of 60 days from the date of judgment or order, "provided that if the court is satisfied that the applicant was prevented by sufficient cause from filing the appeal within the said period of sixty days, then notwithstanding section 5 of the Limitation Act, 1963, it may entertain the appeal within a further period of thirty days, but not thereafter".

A similar provision has been introduced for appeal against the judgment or order of a commercial court at the level of district judge.

The prevailing Section 14 of the Act talks about expeditious disposal of appeals.

It states that the Commercial Appellate Court and the Commercial Appellate Division shall endeavour to dispose of appeals filed before it within a period of six months from the date of filing of such appeal.

A proposed proviso now says that an appeal under Section 13 will be filed by a party "only after issuing a prior notice to the other party and such appeal shall be accompanied by an affidavit by the party filing the appeal endorsing compliance with the said requirement".