Five judges, four DBs assigned to Commercial Division of Delhi High Court

With effect from August 8, five judges of the Delhi High Court have been assigned to occupy the single benches of the Commercial Division, reports Business Standard..These are S Muralidhar, Hima Kohli, Manmohan Singh, RS Endlaw and Vibhu Bakhru JJ..Additionally, four Division Benches have been assigned work of the Commercial Appellate Division. These include the Division Benches of Chief Justice G Rohini and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal J, Indira Banerjee and Kameswar Rao JJ, BD Ahmed and Ashutosh Kumar JJ, and Pradeep Nandrajog and Pratibha Rani JJ..The Commercial Division has been operational in the High Court since November 2015, ever since the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Ordinance was promulgated in October of last year. It was later enacted by Parliament in January this year..The Ordinance, and subsequently the Act, is largely based on the recommendations of the 253rd Report of the Law Commission of India. Under the stewardship of Justice AP Shah, the LCI had suggested a major overhaul of the judicial infrastructure vis-a-vis commercial litigation..Prior to the reference to the Law Commission, a Bill to create commercial benches in some high courts was pending in Parliament and was sent to a Rajya Sabha Select Committee during the UPA’s tenure.