Delhi HC to only hear suits valued at 2 crore or more after RS passes amendment Bill

The Delhi High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2014 was recently passed by the Rajya Sabha. The Bill, among other things, seeks to enhance the pecuniary jurisdiction of the Delhi High Court from the current twenty lakhs to two crores..This amendment will have far-reaching ramifications as the issue of pecuniary jurisdiction has been in the eye of the storm for quite sometime now..An immediate effect of this amendment would be the transfer of all suits below the stipulated valuation amount from the Delhi High Court to the six city courts in Delhi. While this may come as a major victory for the Bar Associations of the lower courts who have been agitating over the enhancement of jurisdiction for quite sometime now, some lawyers of the High Court seem to have expressed their displeasure over the move. Bar & Bench spoke to Rajeev Khosla, President of the Delhi High Court Bar Association to get his views on the issue:-.“It is a welcome step. I had advocated for the increase in pecuniary jurisdiction even when I was the president of the District Court Bar Association. The step will go a long way in reducing the pendency of cases in the High Court. Judges are burdened with suits and since we can not appoint new judges to tackle the pendency, increasing the suit valuation will ensure that the division of matters is proportionate.”.When asked to comment on the rumours that some High Court lawyers were unhappy with this amendment, Khosla said,.“This is an incorrect assumption that most of the High Court lawyers are unhappy with the amendment. Only a small section of lawyers are opposing it to whom I only say one thing. Do you not go to tribunals like the NGT, CLB etc for your matters? If you can argue in tribunals then why not in district Courts? It is a much needed relief for litigants who will have an expeditious hearing of their disputes and if we can not provide for the satisfaction of litigants, then why are we here for?”.And was it true that some lawyers were planning to on strike against this amendment?.“As of now, the DHCBA does not plan to go on a strike and protest the Amendment. If a certain section of the Association members propose to do so, as a Chairman, I will express my strongest dissent to the suggestion and urge them to see this as a verdict of the Parliament. It is a move in the right direction and will help bring justice to hundreds of litigants.”.Meanwhile, lawyer Ashish Dixit’s tweet indicates that the DHCBA shall be going on strike soon enough.