As far as my understanding goes, the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Act, 2015, under which commercial courts have been set up, does not change the court fee structure. This Act basically deals with the issue which courts will decide a commercial dispute. Therefore, the same court fee rules should continue to apply.
However, I may point out that Section 12 of this Act lays down how the “specified value” of the commercial dispute is to be determined. This section is reproduced in full at the end of this answer. So, the specified value of the dispute in a suit, appeal or application may have to be calculated in accordance with this section. For example, this section shows that the specified value of a movable property shall be the market value of such property as on the date of filing of the suit, appeal or application, as the case may be. Same principle applies for immovable property, under this section. For example, if the dispute relates to shares of a company, their market value may have to be considered. Therefore, even though the court fee law of a state does not provide for valuation to be on ad-valorem basis based on market value, the Commercial Courts Act provides for method of valuation laid down in Section 12 above for deciding as to whether a dispute would be of a specified value for deciding the jurisdiction of courts.
With regard to your second query, I may point out that the commercial courts are empowered to decide the commercial disputes. The expression “commercial dispute” is defined in Section 2(c) of the above Commercial Courts Act. The relevant part of this definition for the purposes of your query is a dispute arising out of “ordinary transactions of merchants, bankers, financiers and traders such as those relating to mercantile documents, including enforcement and interpretation of such documents”. Now, the question is where the loan application has been rejected, whether it amounts to an ordinary transaction of a banker / trader, etc. My personal opinion is that it is doubtful whether such rejection of loan application would be included within the expression “commercial dispute” in view of the above clause. It may perhaps have to be examined in more detail, which is beyond the scope of this answer.
Section 12 of the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Act, 2015, is as under:
“12. Determination of Specified Value.— (1) The Specified Value of the subject-matter of the commercial dispute in a suit, appeal or application shall be determined in the following manner—
(a) where the relief sought in a suit or application is for recovery of money, the money sought to be recovered in the suit or application inclusive of interest, if any, computed up to the date of filing of the suit or application, as the case may be, shall be taken into account for determining such specified value;
(b) where the relief sought in a suit, appeal or application relates to movable property or to a right therein, the market value of the movable property as on the date of filing of the suit, appeal or application, as the case may be, shall be taken into account for determining such specified value;
(c) where the relief sought in a suit, appeal or application relates to immovable property or to a right therein, the market value of the immovable property, as on the date of filing of the suit, appeal or application, as the case may be, shall be taken into account for determining specified value;
(d) where the relief sought in a suit, appeal or application relates to any other intangible right, the market value of the said rights as estimated by the plaintiff shall be taken into account for determining specified value; and
(e) where the counter-claim is raised in any suit, appeal or application, the value of the subject-matter of the commercial dispute in such counter-claim as on the date of the counter-claim shall be taken into account.
(2) The aggregate value of the claim and counter-claim, if any, as set out in the statement of claim and the counter-claim, if any, in an arbitration of a commercial dispute shall be the basis for determining whether such arbitration is subject to the jurisdiction of a Commercial Division, Commercial Appellate Division or Commercial Court, as the case may be.
(3) No appeal or civil revision application under Section 115 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), as the case may be, shall lie from an order of a Commercial Division or Commercial Court finding that it has jurisdiction to hear a commercial dispute under this Act.”
Dr. Ashok Dhamija is a New Delhi based Supreme Court Advocate and author of law books. Read more about him by clicking here. List of his Forum Replies. List of his other articles. List of his Quora Answers. List of his YouTube Videos.
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