Draft Commercial Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2024 Circulated for Comments

To strengthen the commercial dispute resolution ecosystem, the department of legal affairs has circulated a draft bill amending the Commercial Courts Act, 2015. The draft, inter alia, aims to update the legislation to incorporate all forms of electronic communications in the procedures of the courts, including video conferencing and e-filing.

The bill proposes setting up commercial courts at the district level, including dedicated commercial courts and courts designated exclusively to deal with arbitration matters. The period of appeal to the commercial appellate court has also been extended by a further period of 30 days in cases of sufficient cause justifying the delay. Further, an appeal shall only be filed after issuing prior notice to the other party. Changes pertaining to the list of witnesses have also been made, along with the insertion of an appendix providing a model for sharing the list of witnesses.

A new section is also sought to be inserted, providing a timeline of 90 days for the disposal of applications for injunction. A timeline has also been introduced through the addition of a new rule 10A in Order 21 of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908, that provides that all proceedings in an application for execution shall be disposed of within 12 months.