Excerpt
A legal question pertaining to commercial appeals had come to light before the High Court of Delhi in the matter of Delhi Tourism & Transportation Development Corporation v. Swadeshi Civil Infrastructure.
Facts of the Case
In the present application, the Court dealt with the legal issue on the appeals arising out of orders or judgments passed by a Commercial Court at the level of District Judge or an Additional District Judge exercising Original Civil jurisdiction. The question in terms of section 13(1A) of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 was whether those appeals were to be heard by a Single Judge or Division Bench of the High Court.
Submissions before Court
Advocate Rajeev Virmani and Advocate Ankit Virmani were appointed as Amicus Curiae. It was pointed out that in 2009 when the Commercial Division of High Courts Bill was first introduced, it provided for the creation of a Division Bench.
A report stated that appeals arising out of orders passed by the Commercial Division of the Court were registered under the category “FAO(OS)(Comm)”. Those appeals were listed before the Commercial Appellate Division. The report further stated that since the appeals against the orders of the District Judge were filed under the category “FAO” and the Roster Bench for hearing “FAO” was that of a Single Bench, the appeals were listed before the Single Judge.
Court’s Observation
It has been noted that the legislative scheme of the Commercial Courts Act had been stipulated under Section 13(1A) of the act. The Court further observed that under Section 5 of the Act, it had been stated that the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court has to constitute Commercial Appellate Division having one or more Division Benches. Hence, it was mandatory to constitute one or more Division Bench in contradiction to the Commercial Division of the High Court under the act.
Court’s Order
A Single Judge Bench of Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva directed its registry to issue all commercial appeals from district court orders before the Commercial Appellate Division Benches. The Court further directed that appeals arising out of orders or judgments passed by a Commercial Court at the level of District Judge, including Additional District Judge would be listed before Division Benches.
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