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Status as on 28.10.2020

REFORMS UPDATE

ENFORCING CONTRACTS PARAMETER OF THE WORLD BANK’S DOING BUSINESS REPORT

2021:

I. Reforms implemented by Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice till September,

2020

A. Establishing dedicated commercial courts to be established based on a workload of 1,000

commercial cases per court in Delhi and Mumbai:

1. Implementation status:

i. Delhi:

a. Established 22 dedicated commercial courts and created 22 posts of Judicial Officers

[Notification dated 08.08.2019].

b. All 22 Dedicated Commercial Courts are functioning. 42 new posts of Judicial Officers for

42 Commercial Courts notified by Delhi High Court.

ii. Mumbai:

a. Government of Maharashtra in consultation with High Court of Bombay has notified 16

dedicated commercial courts (11Commercial Courts are located in Bombay City Civil and

Sessions Court, Mumbai and 5 Commercial Courts are located in City Civil and Sessions

Courts, Dindoshi), vide Notification dated 13.09.2019.

b. High Court of Bombay after rationalizing the number of dedicated commercial courts

currently operational, based on case load density, has reduced the number of dedicated

commercial courts from 16 to 4 Courts in Bombay City Civil and Sessions Court, Gr.

Mumbai (2 courts in Main branch and 2 courts in Dindoshi branch) with exclusive

jurisdiction to deal with commercial cases only on 06.03.2020.

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2. Date of entry into force:

i. Delhi: 08.08.2019

ii. Mumbai: 13.09.2019

3. Legal Basis: The Commercial Courts (Amendment) Act, 2018 [Act No. 28 of 2018]

B. Revise the pecuniary limit for Commercial courts Act to Rs 3.00 Lakh.

1. Implementation status: Pecuniary jurisdiction of District Commercial Court has been

reduced to Rupees three lakh (as per Section 2(1)(i) of Commercial Courts Act, 2015).

i. Delhi: Implemented by gazette notification dated 7 July 2018.

ii. Mumbai: Implemented by gazette notification dated 3 July 2019.

2. Date of entry into force: The Commercial Courts (Amendment) Act, 2018 came into

force from 3rd May, 2018.

3. Legal Basis: The Commercial Courts (Amendment) Act, 2018 [Act No. 28 of 2018].

C. Time Estimates: Reduction in Time taken for trial and judgment in dedicated Commercial

Courts of Delhi and Mumbai.

DB: 2019 DB: 2020

Indicators

Delhi Mumbai Delhi Mumbai

Time-Days 1445 1445 1067 486

1.Filing and

Service

45 45 15 15

2. Trial and

Judgment

1095 1095 746 166

3.Enforcement of 305 305 305 305

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Judgment

1. Implementation status:

i. Delhi:

a. 2018 commercial cases disposed off till September.(Source:

https://delhicourts.nic.in/commCourtData/2020/september/Summary%20of%20Com

mercial%20Cases.pdf)

b. Average time taken is 746 days.

iii. Mumbai:

a. 89 commercial cases disposed from January - March, 2020.

b. Average time taken is 166 days.

2. Legal Basis: The Commercial Courts Act, 2018 [Act No. 28 of 2018]

D. Cost Estimates: Reduction in litigation cost in dedicated Commercial Courts of Delhi and

Mumbai.

1. Doing Business Report 2020 indicates cost (31 % of claim value) for India (both in Delhi

and Mumbai) as

a. Attorney Fees – 22%

b. Court Fees – 8.5%

c. Enforcement Fees – 0.5%

d. Expert fee – No fixed amount payable to ‘expert witness’ as per Order XVI Rule

2 (4) the CPC, Section 45 of the Indian Evidence Act as well as the High Court

of Delhi/Bombay Rules. Commercial Court stands authorized to allow

reasonable remuneration to an ‘expert witness’. Till date none of the

Commercial Court received any request to summon and examine an expert

witness.

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2. Legal Basis:

i. Attorney fees and court fees is payable by unsuccessful party to the successful

party (Section 35 of Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 as amended in the Commercial

Courts Act, 2015).

ii. Commercial courts empowered to award compensatory costs for false and

vexatious claims (Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 as amended in the Commercial

Courts Act, 2015).

iii. Bombay High Courts issued circular to commercial courts to follow CPC as

amended in the Commercial Court Act, 2015 in respect of all commercial disputes.

E. Court Structure & Proceedings: Automatic and Random Allocation of commercial cases:

1. Implementation status:

i. Delhi:

a. Introduced w.e.f. 15.02.2019. Commercial cases data available at

https://delhidistrictcourts.nic.in/efiling.html

b. Check-box removed. Human Intervention totally eliminated from 20 March 2020 in Delhi.

c. 24 commercial cases which have been allocated through the automatic and random

allocation system after removal of check-box (human intervention) between 20-03-2020 and

16.06.2020.

ii. Mumbai:

a. Introduced w.e.f. 13.02.2019. 402 commercial cases randomly and automatically allocated

from January to March, 2020.

b. Check-box removed from May 2020. Human Intervention totally eliminated. No fresh cases

filed and assigned in May 2020 due to Covid-19 lockdown.

2. Date of entry into force:

i. Delhi: 15.02.2019

ii. Mumbai: 13.02.2019

3. Legal Basis

i. Commercial Cases randomly and automatically assigned to Dedicated Commercial

Court using Case Information System (CIS 3.2) software.

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ii. Check-box removed. Human Intervention totally eliminated from 20 March 2020 in

Delhi and from May 2020 in Mumbai.

F. Case Management: Compliance with Time Standards and Adjournment Rules:

1. Implementation status: Time Standards.

i. Statutory Position:

a. CPC provides time standards for Case Management. Filing of written statement

within 30 days of the notice served on defendant. Judgment within 30 days from

hearing conclusion date

b. Amended CPC provisions in the Commercial Court Act, 2015 provides various

time standards for Case Management including ‘Summary Judgment’.

ii. Status:

a. Time standards are respected in more than 50% of cases in dedicated

commercial courts of Delhi and Mumbai.

b. This has resulted reduction of time gap between final arguments and judgment.

Mumbai: Average 17 days

Delhi: Average 6 days

2. Implementation status: Rules on Adjournments.

i. Statutory Position:

a. Order XVII Rule (1) CPC provides for a maximum of 3 adjournments during the

hearing of a suit.

b. Order XVII; Rule 2(b) CPC states that no adjournment shall be granted at the request

of a party, except where the circumstances are beyond the control of the parties.

iii. Status:

a. DoJ sent Advisory letter to High Courts of Delhi and Mumbai .

b. Advisory issued by Delhi High Court to all Dedicated Commercial Courts.

c. Advisory of Mumbai High Court to all Dedicated Commercial Courts.

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● Rules on adjournments are respected in more than 50% of cases. Therefore, the time

taken for trial, arguments and final judgment has reduced.

G. Case Management Hearing (Pre-trial Conference):

1. Implementation status:

i. Delhi:

a. Delhi High Court issued Practice Directions to hold Case Management

Hearings / Pre-Trial Conferences & issue Cause List on 13.08.2019.

b. Case management hearing (Pre-trial Conference) in 646 cases (from 01-05-

2019 to 29-02-2020).

ii. Mumbai: Case management hearing in 38 cases (1st January to 31 March,

2020).

2. Legal Basis:

i. Section 18 of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 empowers the High Court to issue

practice directions.

ii. Order XV-A of CPC in Schedule to the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 mandates

holding of Case management hearing (Pre-trial Conference).

iii. Delhi High Court issued Practice Directions to hold Case Management Hearings /

Pre-Trial Conferences & issue Cause List on 13.08.2019.

H. Electronic Case Management Tools (eCMT) for Judges:

1. Implementation status:

i. Case Information System 3.0 Software launched on 14.08.2018.

ii. JustIS mobile app contains 8 Electronic Case Management Tools available to

Judicial Officers with effect from 04.01.2019.

iii. JustIS mobile app is integrated with CIS 3.0 software of the portal.

iv. JustIs App downloads: Android-13032

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2. Status on availability of 8 Electronic Case Management Tools (eCMTs) in eCourt

Services Portal &JustISApp:

S.No Nature of Electronic

Case Management

Tool (ECMT)

Availability

to Judges

Availability

on eCourt

Services

Portal and

JustIS App

Whether ECMT is Integrated on

one digital portal/platform

1. To access laws,

regulations and

case laws;

Yes Yes Available and integrated in a single

platform at

https://districts.ecourts.gov.in/

2. To

automatically

generate a

hearing

schedule for all

cases on their

dockets;

Yes Yes Yes

3. To send

notifications (for

eg, e-mails) to

lawyers;

To receive

notifications

Yes Yes Yes

4. To track the

status of a case

on their docket;

To track the

status of a case

Yes Yes Yes

5. To view and

manage case

documents;

Yes Yes Yes

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6. To assist in

writing

judgments;

Yes Yes Yes

7. To semi-

automatically

generate court

orders

Yes Yes Yes

8. To view court

orders and

judgments in a

particular case

Yes Yes Yes

I. Electronic Case Management Tools for Lawyers:

1. Implementation status:

a. Electronic Case Management Tools for lawyers available at ecourts.gov.in and

eCourts services mobile app is integrated with CIS 3.0 software of the portal.

b. 4.23 million active Android users of eCourts Services App.

c. eCourts Services App iOS downloads: 25,700-iPhones; 5,76,000-iPads & 26 iPods.

2. Status on availability of 7 Electronic Case Management Tools (eCMTs) in eCourt

Services Portal &eCourt Services App:

S.

No.

Nature of Electronic Case

Management Tool (ECMT)

Availability to

Judges and

Lawyers

Availability

on eCourt

Services

Portal &

eCourt

Services App

(lawyers)

Whether ECMT is Integrated

on one digital portal/platform

1. To access laws,

regulations and

case laws;

Yes Yes Available and integrated in a

single platform at

https://districts.ecourts.gov.in/

2. To send notifications

(for eg, e-mails) to

lawyers;

Yes Yes 10,91,44,741 emails have been

sent from May 2019 to May

2020

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To receive

notifications

3. To track the status

of a case on their

docket;

To track the status

of a case

Yes Yes Yes

4. To view and

manage case

documents;

Yes Yes Yes

5. To view court

orders and

judgments in a

particular case

Yes Yes Yes

6. To access forms to

be submitted to the

court;

Yes Yes Delhi: https://efiling-

dl.ecourts.gov.in/

Mumbai:

https://efiling-

mh.ecourts.gov.in/

7. To file briefs and

documents with the

court

Yes Yes Delhi: https://efiling-

dl.ecourts.gov.in/

Mumbai:

https://efiling-

mh.ecourts.gov.in/

J. e-Filing: Implement electronic Filing of initial complaints for all types of commercial

cases through a dedicated platform with no requirement of filing a physical copy:

1. Implementation status: e-Filing portal/application was launched by the Supreme Court

on 14.08.2018.

i. Delhi:

a. e-Filing facility integrated with CIS 3.0 implemented w.e.f. 24th May,

2019 in Commercial Court at Tis Hazari only for Commercial

Arbitration Matters.

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b. Practice Directions for e-filing notified on 04.05.2019.

[https://delhicourts.nic.in/commcourt.html]

c. e-Filing launched in all fully operational 22 dedicated commercial

courts w.e.f. 01.03.2020.

d. Data on eFIling available at

https://delhidistrictcourts.nic.in/efiling.html

e. Delhi High Court launched Online e-Filing System for including

Delhi Commercial Courts on 14 June 2020 including Delhi

commercial courts to remotely file fresh cases or caveat as well as

applications, reply, rejoinder, documents, vakalatnama etc., in the

pending cases. [http://delhihighcourt.nic.in/efiling.asp]

f. Practice Directions for e-filing notified.

ii. Mumbai:

a. e-Filing operational from 07.03.2019 in all 4 dedicated

Commercial Courts in Mumbai.[https://efiling-mh.ecourts.gov.in/]

b. Practice Directions for e-filing notified.

K. eSummons: Implement electronic service by email/sms of initial complaint on defendants

with no requirement of further physical service

1. Implementation status:

i. Delhi:.

a. eSummons through email and SMS alert is operational.

b. 301 eSummons have been issued from May 2019 to February 2020.

ii. Mumbai:

a. eSummons through SMS alert is operational.

b. In 3 commercial cases eSummons have been sent.

2. Date of entry into force:

i. Delhi: 09.02.2011

ii. Mumbai: 03.05.2019

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3. Legal Basis:

i. Delhi: Delhi Courts Service of Processes by Courier, Fax and Electronic Mail Service

(Civil Proceedings) Rules, 2010 on 09.02.2011.

ii. Mumbai: Bombay High Court Service of Processes by Electronic Mail Services (Civil

Proceedings) Rules, 2017 on 03.05.2019

L. Alternative Dispute Resolution: Financial Incentives for parties to attempt to

mediation/conciliation (refund of court fee incentives etc.)

1. Implementation status:

i. Delhi: In 2010, the Delhi Government amended the Court Fees Act to state that in case of

settlement before hearing, the Court shall refund half the amountof all the fees paid in respect of

the claim or claims in the suits to the parties.

ii. Mumbai: Circular of Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority dated 20th June 2018 giving

reference to WP No: 49/2014- Sanjeev Kumar HarakchandKankariavs Union of India and Other

refund of court fee Act.

2. Legal Basis:

i. Section 16 of Court Fee 1870 states that in case the court refers the dispute to any of the modes

of settlement provided under Section 89 of the CPC, then the plaintiff shall be entitled to the

refund of the full amount of the court fee.

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II. Reforms or other major developments implemented from March 2020 till May, 2020

1. Automatic and Random Allocation of commercial cases:

i. Check-Box removed. Human Intervention eliminated w.e.f. 20 March 2020 in Delhi and from May

2020 in Mumbai.

iii. 24 commercial cases have been allocated through the automatic and random allocation system

after removal of check-box (human intervention) between 20-03-2020 and 16.06.2020 in Delhi

and from May 2020 in Mumbai. No fresh cases filed and assigned in May 2020 due to Covid-19

lockdown.

2. Integration eCMTs in one single digital platform:

i. Integration of eCMTfor both judges and lawyers viz,. ‘Access to laws’(India Code web-portal) with

eCourt Services portal, eCourt Services App and JustIS App w.e.f 8th May 2020, More than 800

laws and regulations have been made available on the click of a button.

ii. Integration of eCMTfor lawyers viz,. ‘File briefs and documents’ (e-Filing) with eCourt Services

portal/App w.e.f 20th April 2019.

iii. Virtual Court Facility for lawyers has been provided in eCourt Services app for lawyers and

litigants to file the plaint electronically through e-filing and also pay the Court Fee or Fine or Fees

or Fine online through http://vcourts.gov.in/virtualcourt/

iv. Integration of eCMT for lawyers viz,. Access to Forms to be submitted with eCourt Services

portal/App.

3. Launching of e-Filing facility:

i. e-Filing was launched in 21 dedicated Commercial Courts of Delhi from 1st March 2020. It has

been integrated with eCourt Services portal and eCourt Services App.

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III. Training of Judges and Lawyers working in commercial courts onuse of eCMTS, eFiling

and other Case Management Systems available in eCourtServices Portal, JustIS App and

eCourt Services App and other public out reach activities:

1. Delhi High Court:

i. Conducted 2 workshops on reforms implemented under Enforcing Contracts Indicatorin Delhi

Judicial Academy for lawyers and Commercial Court judges in Sept and Nov 2019.

ii. 15 workshops on reforms implemented under Enforcing Contracts Indicator conducted in 6 Delhi

District Court Complexes for training of Judicial Officers / Lawyers since October, 2018.

iii. A workshop for Delhi High Court lawyers on reforms implemented under Enforcing Contracts

Indicator on 26 April 2019.

2. Mumbai High Court:

i. 5 workshops conducted in High Court/Bombay City Civil Court complexes for training of Judicial

Officers / Lawyers in Mumbai since October, 2018.

ii. Maharashtra Judicial Academy training work shop on Commercial Court Act for lawyers and

Commercial Court judges in August and Dec 2019.

3. eCommittee of Supreme Court

i. eCommittee of Supreme Court organized an Online Training Workshop on 14 June 2020 for

Mumbai commercial lawyers on e-Filing and use of eCMTs in eCourts Services web portal and

App -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt0SzNacEcE

ii. eCommittee of Supreme Court Online Training Workshop for commercial lawyers of Delhi on e-

Filing and use of eCMTs in eCourts Services web portal and App is scheduled on 27 June 2020.

iii. Video Tutorial for eFiling both in English and Hindi has been prepared and circulated for

advocates and is made available on eFiling portal help desk and also on YouTube Channel.

iv. Manual of step by step guide for eFiling and Brochures on how to register for eFilng has been

prepared and made available for all stakeholders both in English and Hindi under eFiling portal.

4. Department of Justice

i. Three month’s online course on Business and Commercial Laws launched by NLU, Delhi in

August 2020.

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ii. Webinar organized by DoJ /CII on 16th May 2020 for more than 200 commercial lawyers on

reforms implemented under Enforcing Contracts Indicator.

[https://indiaeducationdiary.in/government-to-focus-on-digitization-in-enforcing-contracts-

secretary-department-of-justice/] Available on youTube.

iii. Webinar organized by DoJ /CII on 20 June for more than 100 Mumbai commercial lawyers on

reforms implemented under Enforcing Contracts Indicator.

iv. Webinar by DoJ /CII on reforms implemented under Enforcing Contracts Indicator for commercial

lawyers of South Indian metro cities is scheduled on 4 July 2020.

v. eMails informing various reforms and initiatives undertaken in Enforcing Contracts Indicator have

been sent to 50 corporate law firms and 240 lawyers.

vi. Stakeholders outreach through Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook has been done (about 110 posts

together).

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