Help fast track commercial dispute cases: Law Min to CJI

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The government has reached out to the Chief Justice of India to ensure commercial disputes in the lower courts are adjudicated at a faster pace without unnecessary adjournments and summons are delivered to warring parties electronically.
In a letter to CJI Jagdish Singh Khehar, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said the Supreme Court can provide the "necessary leadership" for the proper implementation of the existing provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure relating to grant of adjournment, adherence to timelines and electronic filing and electronic service of summons in 71 city courts -- 11 in Delhi and 60 in Mumbai-- immediately.

"Doing so will go a long way in providing timely and effective enforcement of contracts and this will undoubtedly ensure a marked improvement in our ranking," he said.
The letter comes at a time when the 2017 report states that it takes a total of 1420 days to resolve a commercial dispute in India, out of which the total time taken for completing the trial in a commercial case is 1095 days.
The time taken for enforcing the judgement is 305 days. In comparison, the total time taken to resolve the dispute in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) high income countries is 553 days.

Referring to the annual 'Doing Business' report of the World Bank, Prasad said India's ranking has improved from 178 lowest rank in 2016 to 172 in 2017 relating to 'enforcing contract' indicator.

The indicator measures the time and cost for resolving a standardised commercial dispute through a local court where the case comes up for the first time.
"The ranking on this indicator is dependent on the quality of judicial process index, evaluating whether each economy has adopted a series of good practices that promote quality and efficiency in the court system," the minister told the CJI.
The ease of doing business index is an index created by the World Bank. Higher rankings -- a low numerical value -- indicate better, usually simpler, regulations for businesses and stronger protections of property rights.