Report No. 188

Proposals for Constitution of Hi-Tech Fast - Track Commercial Divisions in High Courts

Contents
Chapter I	Introductory
	Need for fast-track, high-tech Commercial Courts in India
Chapter II	Commercial cases arising in India being taken over by US, UK Courts on ground of 'Forum Non Conveniens'; reasons not acceptable
	Commercial cases arising in India being taken over by US, UK Courts on ground of 'Forum Non Conveniens'
	Anomalies in US & UK decisions where aliens are plaintiffs and where aliens are defendants
	Equally significant are the following other observations in that judgment of Keenan J
	U.K
	Conclusion
Chapter III	"Commercial Courts" in UK, USA and Twelve other Countries we shall refer to the classification of Courts as 'Commercial Courts'
	Commercial Courts in UK, USA and Twelve other Countries we shall refer to the classification of Courts as 'Commercial Courts'
	U.S.A
(A)	New York
(B)	Delaware
(c)	Philadelphia
(d)	Maryland
	The findings of the Maryland Task Force are as follows
	France
	Ireland
	Singapore
	Scotland
	Philippines (Manila)
	Pakistan
	United Arab Emirates
	Poland
	Russia
	Romania
	Ukraine
	Kenya
	Ghana
Chapter IV	Commercial Division - What Cases Have Been Assigned In UK, USA and Delhi High Court
	Commercial Division - What Cases Have Been Assigned In UK, USA and Delhi High Court
	UK
	USA
	Cases subject to Business and Technology Case Management Program
	Delhi High Court Rules
	Original matters
	Summary
Chapter V	Allocation of Cases to Commercial Division of High Courts by Parliamentary Statute - Constitutionally permissible
	Allocation of Cases to Commercial Division of High Courts by Parliamentary Statute - Constitutionally permissible
	High Courts as on 26.1.1950
	New High Courts
	Summing up
	List I
	List II
	List III
	The facts in the above case were as follows
Chapter VI	Fast-track procedure for Commercial Divisions in UK and USA
	Fast-track procedure for Commercial Divisions in UK and USA
	UK
	Commercial Courts' Guide, 2002 (UK)
	USA
Chapter VII	Commercial Division - are high-tech and follow on-line systems in other countries
	Singapore
	US: Court - room 2000 for the New Millennium
Chapter VIII	Proposals by the National Informatics for establishing E-Courts in India
	Introduction
	Objectives and Functional Components
	Video Conferencing
	Security
	Utility of Video Conferencing (VC) System in E-Court
	VC for Witness Statement Recording
	Virtual Court
	Functioning of VC
	E-Filing
	E-mail based Communication
	E-Advocacy
	Facilitation Centre
	Orders & Judgments on Internet
	E-Courts
	Hardware & Software requirement
Chapter IX	Fast Track in the Commercial Division in High Courts in India
	Fast Track in the Commercial Division in High Courts in India
	Commercial Dispute Cases
	Valuation
	Fast track procedure in Suits and Case Management
	Statutory appeals to Supreme Court
	Procedure in pending appeals
	Time limits for the Commercial Division to dispose of matters
	Execution Matters and Fast track Procedures
Chapter X	Summary of Recommendations our important conclusions and recommendations in this report are summarised below
1.	Purpose to expedite commercial cases of high pecuniary value
2.	Method of expeditious disposal of "Commercial cases" of high pecuniary value in NUTSHELL
3.	Creation of Commercial Division in High Courts
4.	Jurisdiction of Commercial Division in regard to original matters
(1)	Jurisdiction regarding the subject matter
(2)	Pecuniary and other jurisdictions
5.	Nature of matters, pending in High Court, which have to be allocated to the Commercial Division
6.	Fast track procedure
1.	With regard to fresh suits
2.	The following are broad guidelines for fast-track procedure
	Fast track procedure with regard to pending Commercial suits transferred or allocated to Commercial Division
	Dispensing with individual service of notice to respondents in pending appeals against decrees or orders passed by learned single Judges in the High Court
	Filing of paper books, written submissions and adherence to time limits
	Time limits for the Commercial Division to dispose of matters
7.	Statutory right of appeal to the Supreme Court of India against decrees and certain orders of the Commercial Division
8.	Commercial Division to be the Execution court for certain cases
9.	Special budgetary support needed to establish the Commercial Division
10.	High Courts Judges strength in Commercial Division to be maintained consistently
	Resort to appointments under article 224A of the Constitution necessary
	Backlog of criminal appeals, appeals relating to family disputes pending in High Courts need to be similarly tackled