JUDGMENT

(Prayer: Original Side Appeal is filed under Section 13(1) of the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Act, 2015 read with Clauses 15 of the Letters Patent against the order dated 20.12.20218 made in A.No.7113 of 2018 in C.S.No.851 of 2015.)

M.M. Sundresh, J.

1. This original side appeal has been preferred by the defendant in the suit filed for recovery of money on the failure of the appellant to make the supply in terms of the purchase orders. On an application in A.No.7113 of 2018 in C.S.No.851 of 2015 filed by the plaintiff/respondent seeking a summary judgment, the Commercial Division of this Court granted a decree in part.

2. Before going into the facts governing, it is imperative to appreciate the scope and ambit of Order XIII-A of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015, which deals with summary judgment in the light of the object behind the enactment.

3. Recommendations of the Law Commission:-

3.1. Two recommendations have been made by the Law Commission through its 188th and 253rd Reports. As per the 188th Report, the need to introduce the Commercial Courts, was expressed, acknowledging the then prevailing view that Indian Courts were slow to get off the block and proceed at a reasonable gallop. Keeping in mind the functioning of the Courts Abroad, U.S., and U.K., in particular, the Law Commission has expressed its views.

“With such rapid increase in commerce and trade, commercial disputes involving high stakes are likely to increase. Unless, there is a new and effective mechanism for resolving them speedily and efficiently, progress will be retarded. Foreign investors in India must be assured that the Indian courts are as fast as the Courts in the most developed countries of the world and that there are no longer any long delays in the judicial process.

With that in mind, the Law Commission thought it necessary to examine the feasibility of 'Commercial Division' in the High Courts in India on the model of the Commercial Division in the High Court in the United Kingdom and in US and other countries. In Chapter III of this Report, the manner in which the 'Commercial Divisions' have been set up in various countries and their functioning will be discussed. We may state that in the United Kingdom, the Commercial Division was started more than a hundred years ago in 1895 and gave confidence to the business community and contributed enormously to the growth of commerce in London. In the United States, Commercial Divisions have been started only recently in or around the year 1993. Other countries too have or are following suit.

The purpose of this Report is to recommend the creation of “Commercial Division” with high-tech facilities like videoconferencing, on-line filing etc., in each of our High Courts so that they may handle 'commercial cases' of a high threshold value of (say) Rs.1 crore and above, or such higher limit as may be fixed by the High Court (but not in excess of Rs.5 crores) and fast tract basis.”

3.2. By the 253rd Report, further in depth study was made by expanding the functioning of the Courts by viewing more countries, such as, Singapore, Ireland, France, Kenya among others. It was felt that it would be prudent to adopt the functioning of the Courts in UK, USA and Singapore.

“The Bill shall have a streamlined procedure to be adopted for the conduct of cases in the Commercial Division and in the Commercial Court by amending the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 so as to improve the efficiency and reduce delays in disposal of commercial cases. The amended CPC as applicable to the Commercial Divisions and Commercials Courts will prevail over the existing High Court rules and other provisions of the CPC to the contrary. Some of the important changes proposed to the CPC are listed below. iii. A new procedure for “summary judgment” to be introduced to permit the Courts to decide a claim pertaining to any Commercial Dispute without recording oral evidence, as long as the appl