Bill to replace ordinance on commercial courts in LS

Seeking to improve India's ranking in the ease of doing business index, a bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha today to amend a law for speedy disposal of commercial disputes.

The Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts (Amendment) Bill, which will replace an ordinance, reduces the pecuniary jurisdiction of commercial courts from Rs 1 crore to Rs 3 lakh.

The bill, introduced by Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, allows state governments to establish commercial courts at the district level.

It also seeks to reduce the pecuniary jurisdiction of commercial courts from Rs 1 crore to Rs 3 lakh.

The Commercial Courts Act, 2015, provides for commercial courts and commercial divisions of high courts to settle commercial disputes with a value of at least Rs 1 crore.

The proposed law would bring down the time taken from the present 1,445 days in resolution of commercial disputes of lesser value.

Ease of doing business is an index of the World Bank, which refers to the dispute resolution environment in a country that facilitates an investor in deciding to set up and operate a business.

The amendment also provides for establishment of commercial courts at the district-judge level for territories over which the high courts of Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Himachal Pradesh have ordinary original civil jurisdiction
The introduction of the pre-institution mediation process in cases where no urgent interim relief is contemplated will provide an opportunity to the parties to resolve the commercial disputes outside the ambit of courts through authorities constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act