The Law Commission of India, in its 253rd report, had recommended for the establishment of the Commercial Courts at various level for speedy disposal of commercial disputes. The bill for the same was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in April 2015 and passed through Lok Sabha on 16th December 2015. So by this The Commercial courts, Commercial division and Commercial appellate division of high courts act 2015(Hereinafter “Act”) come into picture. So by the virtue of this act commercial court has been established at three levels. Commercial court at the district.

What is a “Commercial dispute”

It include all dispute related to any commercial transaction. As such the definition broadly includes disputes relating to transactions between merchants, bankers, financiers, traders, etc. and also includes disputes in relation to shareholders agreements, mercantile documents, partnership agreements, joint venture agreements, intellectual property rights, insurance, etc. Section 2(b) of the act defines the term commercial dispute with exhaustive list of twenty two type of dispute and the explanation attached therewith.

Constitution of Commercial Courts

Section 3 of the act; give this power to State government to decide upon the constitution of commercial court at a district level with the consultation of the respective High Court. This court can only constitute in that territory over which the high court has ordinary civil jurisdiction and no ordinary original civil jurisdiction.

Section 4 of the act; give power to Chief Justice of any High Court having ordinary civil jurisdiction to constitute a bench of one or more judges for exercising the jurisdiction.

Section 5 of the act; give power to Chief justice of any High Court to constitute appellate tribunal after the issue of notice under section 3(1) and 4(1)

Ordinary civil jurisdiction and ordinary original civil jurisdiction.

Here Ordinary means normal and the meaning of original means the court of first instance. The combination of both construe that the court which normally serves as a court of first instance. Only four High Courts in India have this power i.e. Bombay, Madras, Calcutta and Allahabad.

Ordinary Civil jurisdiction is a normal course contrasted against the extraordinary jurisdiction.

Procedure of appointment of judges in commercial courts, commercial divisions and commercial appellate divisions.

Section 3(3) of the act; deals with appointment of judges in Commercial court. It states that the state government has the power with the concurrence of the High court to appoint one or two person having experience in dealing with commercial disputes from the Higher judicial service of the state as judge.

Section 4(2) of the act; deals with the appointment of judges in Commercial division of High Court. It states that chief justice of respective High Court will nominate such judges to the court who has some experience in dealing with the commercial dispute.

Section 5(2) of the act; deals with the appointment of judges in the commercial appellate division. This follows the same method as for the appointment of judges in Commercial division of High Court.

Specified and Commercial division of High Court

The specified pecuniary jurisdiction of the commercial court has been brought down to the 3 lakhs rupees from earlier 1 Crore rupees by the way of amendment 2018. The Commercial division of the High Court when only exercising the Ordinary original civil jurisdiction.

Revision application or petition against the interlocutory order passed in commercial court.

Ans.6 Section 8 of the act; state about the bar over revision application or petition against an interlocutory order. There can only be so in case of  a decree from the Commercial Court. There is vagueness about the said rule as the act only mention about an interlocutory order from Commercial Court but no mention of Commercial division.

Commercial arbitration cases.

Section 10 of the act states that when arbitration is a commercial dispute of a specified value then the commercial courts can take the case be it International arbitration matter or domestic arbitration matter. The appeal arising out of it will be treated in the same way by the commercial appellate Court.

Value specified of the subject matter in a particular suit.

The method of determination of value specified varies from case to case. Section 12 of the act deals with several general methods to be used:-

Money- in case where the relief is for recovery of money, the money will be calculated with interest up to the date of filing of the suit.

Movable Property- in case of this type of relief the market value of the property on the date of filing of the suit or appeal will be considered.

Immovable Property- in case of this type of relief the market value of it on tha day of filing the suit will be considered.

Any intangible right- in case of this type of relief the market value of said right estimated by the plaintiff will be considered.

In case of Counterclaim- the market estimated value of such claim on the date of raising such claim will be considered.

Maximum prescribed period for the disposal of appeal

Section 14 of the act provides prescribe 6 months as maximum time for disposal of an appeal.

Can a pending case in any civil court or in arbitration get transferred to the Commercial court?

Yes by the virtue of section 15 any case relating to commercial dispute can be transferred to the commercial division of that court having sufficient jurisdiction in that matter.

With respect to the cases hold for the final judgment prior to the enactment of the act, in such cases there cannot be any transfer.

 Recent amendments to the Commercial Court Act 2015.

To the Ease of doing business in Index in India, parliament in May 2018 passed the amendment bill. It focuses on the following parts:-

• The bill amends section 1(1) of the act as “this Act may be called the Commercial Courts Act, 2015” from its earlier name of Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Act, 2015.
• It reduces the pecuniary jurisdiction of Commercial Courts and Commercial Division of High Court from 1 crore to 3 Lakhs.
• The bill expressly barred the constitution of Commercial Court in the High Court having ordinary original civil jurisdiction but allow the constitution of Commercial Court at the district judge level with the permission of High Court having ordinary original civil jurisdiction.
• Consequently, Section 9 of the Act of 2015 which deals with ‘transfer of a suit if counterclaim in a commercial dispute is of Specified Value’ and corresponding section 12(e) of the Act of 2015 have also been deleted.
• It gives power to establish Commercial Appellate Courts at the District Judge Level except for the High Court having Ordinary ordinal civil jurisdiction.
• It makes pre-institution mediation and settlement as necessary remedy that to be taken by the plaintiff before coming to court.

Conclusion

The Act is significant in bringing organized structure in disposal of the suit. I think this can be taken as basis for bringing the systematic method to try and dispose of the suit in the regular course of civil or criminal matters. Thereby the efficacy of legal system will boost and bring in organized method in the legal system.