Special courts to hear commercial cases: Moily

Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily said the bill to propose special courts for commercial hearings will be tabled in the ongoing session and will be implemented within one year.

Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily said the bill to propose special courts for commercial hearings will be tabled in the ongoing session and will be implemented within one year.

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The proposed courts will deal with cases regarding matters concerning more than Rs 5 crore and will ensure a speedy disposal of disputes since the judges will be given a deadline of one year to settle each case.

“The economy opened up in 1991, but we didn’t open up [institutions of] commercial disputes. The perception that the Indian legal system is time-consuming must be removed,” Moily said during a discussion on amendments to Arbitration Act and the Commercial Courts Bill in the city on Sunday.

Moily said this will open up “a new era, new regime in dispute settlement”, where “India should become the preferred destination for international arbitration” over countries such as Hong Kong, Singapore and UK.

“In the next four years, we will ensure no case is pending for more than three years,” he said.

He added that after the government initiated a drive to free undertrials in jails for minor offences on January 26, 22,600 had already been freed.

“With the new industrial policy being designed in the state, we are expecting huge investments from companies and having an arbitration court in the state will boost our opportunities,” Chavan said.