Delhi HC gets Commercial Courts, amended pecuniary jurisdiction

A recent notice issued by the Delhi High Court reflects the establishment of Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division Courts. The notice issued on November 26, 2015, comes a month after the promulgation of the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Ordinance..As per the notice, published in the court’s causelist for November 26, the Commercial Division will comprise of six Single Benches, (Courts 19-24) with the presiding judges including Najmi Waziri, AK Pathak, Valmiki J. Mehta, J.R. Midha, Manmohan Singh and Hima Kohli JJ..In addition to this, as mandated by the ordinance, the High Court will also have a Commercial Appellate Division, comprising four Division Benches. These four Benches comprise Chief Justice G Rohini with Jayant Nath J. in DB-I, BD Ahmed & Sanjeev Sachdeva JJ. in DB-II, Pradeep Nandrajog & Mukta Gupta JJ. in DB-III, and Gita Mittal & I.S. Mehta JJ. in DB-IV..These new Benches shall hear matters pertaining to commercial disputes of the kind specified in S.2(1)(c) of the Ordinance. These disputes include ones connected to construction & infrastructure contracts, shareholder & partnership agreements, distribution & licensing agreements, and intellectual property rights..This is not the only recent development in the Delhi High Court. On October 26 this year, the Delhi High Court (Amendment) Act of 2015 came into force. The amendment has raised the minimum pecuniary jurisdiction of the Delhi to 2 crore (up from 20 lac), the cause for a number of protests by lawyers in the past. .Nonetheless, it appears that the revised jurisdiction is here to stay, with the High Court transferring all cases valued up to rupees two crore to subordinate courts. The two exceptions to this are cases where judgment has been reserved, and commercial disputes that are valued between one and two crore. Both types of disputes will continue under the High Court..Now, while the commercial courts were to begin functioning from November 24 along with the transfer of matters to the lower courts, a number of lawyers expressed their confusion in the court corridors today, and it may take a while for the processes to be streamlined..A majority of the lawyers approached welcomed the move to have specialized Benches, saying that this would result in expeditious hearing of cases since the Benches stood relieved of a massive cause list on a daily basis.