Supreme Court Seeks Data From High Courts On Pendency Of Commercial Disputes & Available Commercial Court Infrastructure
In a matter pertaining to implementation of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015, the Supreme Court today called on High Courts across the country to furnish data on pendency of commercial disputes and the infrastructure available for dealing with the same.A bench of Justices KV Viswanathan and N Kotiswar Singh was dealing with a petition seeking directions for time-bound implementation of...
In a matter pertaining to implementation of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015, the Supreme Court today called on High Courts across the country to furnish data on pendency of commercial disputes and the infrastructure available for dealing with the same.
A bench of Justices KV Viswanathan and N Kotiswar Singh was dealing with a petition seeking directions for time-bound implementation of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015. 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.
Today, the order seeking data from High Courts was passed taking into account a note furnished by Senior Advocate Arvind Datar (for petitioner), stating that following inputs would be necessary for a detailed status report to be presented to the Court:
(i) Number of commercial disputes pending before district/other courts having original civil jurisdiction and the number of filings and disposal in the past 3 yrs;
(ii) Details of infrastructure available for functioning of commercial courts and commercial appellate benches.
The order was dictated thus: "Considering that this Court has called for a status report from the Union, it is felt by both Mr Datar, ld. senior counsel, and the ld. Solicitor General appearing before us that inputs on the above matters would be essential and they can only be furnished by the Registrar Generals of the respective High Courts in the states. We direct that the Registrar Generals of various High Courts arrayed as respondents be informed of the order passed today. The Registrar Generals may furnish the above details within a period of 4 weeks to the Secretary General of this Court. The office of the ld. Solicitor General will be communicated of the said details by the office of the Secretary General of this Court, as and when details are received from the High Courts."
"Since the matter is of considerable importance, we are hopeful that the particulars would be furnished within the time stipulated. Union of India may, after the details are collated, file the status report on or before 15 April 2025", the Court added.
The matter has been posted for further consideration on April 22.
Notably, after dictation of the order, when Solicitor General Tushar Mehta (for Union) informed that it is for the state governments to provide infrastructure, the bench indicated that once it receives data from the High Courts, it would issue directions to state governments as well, if necessary.
Case Title: INDIAN COMMERCIAL AND ARBITRATION BAR ASSOCIATION (ICABA) Versus UNION OF INDIA AND ORS., W.P.(C) No. 900/2020