Background: Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Act, 2015
- It was enacted in the background of increasing no. of commercial disputes at domestic and international level.
- Under this commercial courts were established at District Levels in all jurisdictions, except in the 5 areas where High Courts have original ordinary civil jurisdiction. These are cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and State of Himachal Pradesh.
- The specified value of such commercial disputes to be adjudicated by the Commercial Courts (or the Commercial Division of High Court), is Rs. 1 Crore.
Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Division of High Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2018:
It makes the following amendments in the 2015 act:
- Value of a commercial dispute to be reduced from 1 Crore to 3 Lakhs. This would bring a lot of commercial disputes of lesser value to be decided by commercial courts.
- Commercial Courts at district Judge level to be established for the territories where the above mentioned 5 High Courts have ordinary original civil jurisdiction
- Pre-Institution Mediation process to be introduced. Under this commercial disputes can be resolved outside the courts under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.
This is an important step towards improving Ease of Doing Business.
