Bill on pecuniary jurisdiction of Delhi HC deferred in RS

A bill providing for increase in the pecuniary jurisdiction of Delhi High Court was deferred in Rajya Sabha after some members insisted that the measure be taken up with other pending legislation on creation of commercial divisions in High Courts.
Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda conceded to the demands made by a member each of JD(U) and BJP that the Delhi High Court (Anmendment) Bill be deferred and taken up along with another pending bill which seeks to create commercial divisions in High Courts to decide on high value commercial disputes.
"We can take up together," Gowda said, prompting the Chair to defer the bill for consideration later.

On this, senior advocate K T S Tulsi (Nominated) targeted the government.
"The government does not know whether it is going right or left. It is running away from responsibility. Why should they not think before getting the bill in the list of business," he said.
The Delhi High Court amendment bill seeks to enhance the pecuniary jurisdiction of civil suits of the Delhi High Court from the existing Rs 20 lakh to Rs 2 crore. It has been hanging fire in the upper house since last February after being introduced by the previous UPA government.

The bill aims at reducing workload of the Delhi High Court by transferring thousands of civil suits, valued up to Rs 2 crore, to the nine district courts in Delhi.

The Commercial Division of High Courts Bill, 2009 has also been pending for a long time. After being referred to a Rajya Sabha Select Committee, it was sent to the Law Commission.
The Law panel gave its report recently to the Law Ministry. Government is now redrafting the bill based on the recomendations of the panel.