Presiding Officers Of Commercial Courts Should Be Imparted Training: Supreme Court
Prolonged pendency of commercial disputes has cascading effect on nation's economy, the Court said.;
In a matter pertaining to implementation of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015, the Supreme Court today underlined a need for compulsory training of Presiding Officers of Commercial Courts prior to their posting."...we expect that Presiding Officers of commercial courts should be imparted some training, orientation or refresher course to apprise them about the nature of commercial disputes...
In a matter pertaining to implementation of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015, the Supreme Court today underlined a need for compulsory training of Presiding Officers of Commercial Courts prior to their posting.
"...we expect that Presiding Officers of commercial courts should be imparted some training, orientation or refresher course to apprise them about the nature of commercial disputes pending in a particular [state or region] and the importance of adjudication of these disputes within a reasonable time, for the prolonged pendency of such disputes has a cascading effect on the nation's economy also", the Court observed.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh was dealing with a petition filed by Indian Commercial and Arbitration Bar Association seeking directions for time-bound implementation of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015. Through the petition, the ICABA highlighted lack of infrastructure and inadequacy of commercial courts and commercial appellate benches to resolve commercial disputes.
Earlier, when the matter was taken up in 2023, the Court had asked Union of India to apprise about the status of constitution of commercial courts in different states/UTs. In February this year, the Court called on High Courts across the country to furnish data on pendency of commercial disputes and the infrastructure available for dealing with the same.
Today, the details furnished by the High Courts in terms of earlier directions were before the Supreme Court. However, deeming it necessary, it called for further information on some more aspects. These were:
(i) average life of the pending commercial disputes - whether in the commercial courts, or before the appellate bench;
(ii) effective mechanism, if any, introduced by them for imparting compulsory training to the Presiding Officers of commercial courts before they are routinely posted in such courts during the annual transfers;
(iii) the requirement of additional commercial courts and appellate benches.
Pursuant to a submission by one of the counsels present, the Court extended the order to state commercial benches of High Courts having original jurisdiction.
During the hearing, Justice Kant remarked that none of the High Courts provide any special training to officers dealing with commercial disputes. "These white elephants of judicial academies are there, infrastructure is not being properly utilized...you need to have some training courses...[officers] can be imparted atleast 1 month, 2 months training in the judicial academy before their posting and then they should be asked to have periodical refresher courses on every weekend...", the judge said.
Justice Kant further indicated that after receiving requisite information, the Court would deal with the requirement of additional infrastructure in a phased manner. "Let's see if we have to honor the timeline which the statute provides, then how many additional courts in particular states will be required? Then we will see in phased manner...".
Case Title: INDIAN COMMERCIAL AND ARBITRATION BAR ASSOCIATION (ICABA) Versus UNION OF INDIA AND ORS., W.P.(C) No. 900/2020