NEW DELHI: High economic growth and boosting private-sector spending are the two areas that the Ministry of Law and Justice is keeping an eye on. To ensure that the target is achieved, it is all set to introduce commercial courts in the country and fix a stipulated time-frame for disposing of the cases.
The move by the ministry will give a push to the government’s aim of wooing investors to increase private infrastructure spending. “We have enacted the Commercial Courts Act, which prescribes dedicated courts for disposal of commercial disputes. These courts will be manned by those judges who have had exposure to commercial laws. Under the new Act, we have amended certain provisions under the CPC, laying down the time limits within which the court has to pass an order and decide an appeal,” said a law ministry official.
The ministry will also ensure that the mechanism of commercial disputes is easy, accessible and less time consuming.
The Act also mandates that all appointments to the commercial court, the commercial division and commercial appellate division of the high court consider only judges with experience in dealing with commercial disputes. This would mean there could be greater attention paid to the larger implications of a judgment for both businesses and business sentiment.
The new courts will be equivalent to district courts and will be set up in states and union territories where High Courts do not have ordinary original civil jurisdiction. The ministry is now deliberating as to how and where to establish commercial courts to ensure that business disputes are decided at the earliest.
“The setting up of commercial courts will ensure speedy disposal of commercial disputes, which in turn will give a clear message that commercial litigation is being taken up at priority and that any investment in the country will not be delayed because of litigation,” an official said.
From the pending civil cases in various High Courts, commercial disputes are over 52 per cent, which are clogging the wheels of justice. With commercial courts in place, the existing mechanism, clogged by pendency and the 90-day deadline for completing hearing and pronouncing judgment after the closing of arguments, will ensure faster dispute resolution.
Any challenge to the judgment will be taken up by the associated appellate body, and a final outcome will be attained within six months.