Government has notified an ordinance on May 3, 2018 to amend the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and the Commercial Appellate Division in High Courts Act of 2015. The main Highlights of the Ordinance are:-

• The pecuniary jurisdiction of the Commercial Courts’ has been widened. The value of subject matter of suit shall not be less than 3 lakhs in place of Rs. 1 crore.
• With respect to the High Courts having ordinary original civil jurisdiction, the State Government may, after consultation with the concerned High Court, by notification, constitute Commercial Courts at the District Judge level.
• With respect to a territory over which the High Courts have ordinary original civil jurisdiction, the State Government may, by notification, specify such pecuniary value which shall not be less than three lakh rupees and not more than the pecuniary-jurisdiction exercisable by the District Courts, as it may, consider necessary.
• Except the territories over which the High Courts have ordinary original civil jurisdiction, the State Government may, after consultation with the concerned High Court, by notification, designate such number of Commercial Appellate Courts at District Judge level, as it may deem necessary, for the purposes of exercising the jurisdiction and powers conferred on those Courts under this Act
• A suit, which does not contemplate any urgent interim relief under the Act, shall not be instituted unless the plaintiff exhausts the remedy of pre-institution mediation in accordance with such manner and procedure as may be prescribed by rules made by the Central Government.
• lf the parties to the commercial dispute arrive at a settlement, the same shall be reduced into writing and shall be signed by the parties to the dispute and the mediator
• The appeals from the judgments and orders of such ‘Commercial Division’ shall lie before the Commercial Appellate Division of the concerned high court
• Any person aggrieved by the judgment or order of a Commercial Court below the level of a District Judge may appeal to the Commercial Appellate Court within a period of sixty days from the date of judgment or order.
• The ordinance also inserts a new provision empowering the Central government to lay down rules for implementation of the Act