Judgment :

Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya, J.

1. A preliminary objection is taken by the respondent as to whether the present appeal is maintainable before this Bench, which has been conferred determination as an ordinary court of First and First Miscellaneous Appeals as per the roster of this Court, as opposed to the Commercial Appellate Division of this Court.

2. Learned counsel appearing for the respondent argues that the suit, as framed, is a commercial suit within the connotation of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 (in short “ the 2015 Act”).

3. Learned counsel relies on the caption of the suit as a commercial suit and also attracts the attention of the court to Paragraph 17 of the plaint, where it has been specifically stated that the present case falls within the category of a commercial dispute under Section 2 of the 2015 Act and that a pre-institution mediation application under Section 12(A) of the said Act has been filed by the respondent before the District Legal Services Authority.

4. Also, it is pointed out that the value of the suit and the relief sought in the suit come within the ambit of “specified value” as referred to in the 2015 Act and the transaction between the parties, which is the genesis of the legal action, is also a commercial transaction within the contemplation of the 2015 Act.

5. As such, the present appeal has to be filed before the Commercial Appellate Division of this Court in terms of Section 13(1A) of the 2015 Act.

6. Learned counsel for the respondent also relies on several Notifications pertaining to the City Civil Court at Calcutta. By a Notification dated March 20, 2020 issued by the Judicial Department of the Government of West Bengal, power was conferred by the Governor, in consultation with this court, on the City Civil Court at Calcutta to take up commercial disputes, not less than Rs.3,00,000/- and not more than Rs.10,00,000/- exclusively, and exceeding Rs.10,00,000/- but not exceeding Rs.1,00,00,000/- concurrently with the Commercial Division of this Court.

7. In case of Commercial Division of the High Court at Calcutta, the jurisdiction would lie of an amount exceeding Rs.10,00,000/-.Thus, if the specified value of the of the dispute is between Rs.10,00,000/- and Rs.1,00,00,000/-, the Commercial Division of this Court and the Commercial Courts of the City Civil Court at Calcutta would have concurrent jurisdiction.

8. Learned counsel also places reliance on a further Notification of the self-same date where it was mentioned that in exercise of the power conferred by sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the 2015 Act, the Governor, after consultation with the High Court, Calcutta, was pleased to constitute with immediate effect two Commercial Courts at Calcutta, for the purpose of exercising the jurisdiction and powers conferred on those Courts under the said Act.

9. It is submitted that, however, since no such Commercial Court has been specifically designated by name till date, all the Benches of the City Civil Court at Calcutta are being deemed to be conferred with the power to deal with commercial disputes and are being allocated commercial suits.

10. Learned counsel appearing for the appellant categorically controverts such contentions.

11. Learned counsel places reliance on the amendment to Order VI Rule 15-A of the Code of Civil Procedure brought by virtue of the 2015 Act.

12. It is argued that in terms of the said amendment, a “statement of truth” has to accompany the affidavit in support of the plaint in a commercial suit, the format of which has been given as Appendix 1 of the Schedule to the 2015 Act. It is pointed out that the affidavit accompanying the plaint in the present suit does not at all adhere to the requirements of the said format and as such it cannot be deemed that the suit was intended to be a commercial suit.

13. It is further argued that in view of the valuation of the suit as disclosed in the plaint being Rs. 79,93,083.11 p., the same comes within the concurrent jurisdiction of the