Supreme Court Seeks Updated Data On Commercial Litigation Across Country To Assess Need For More Courts

In a matter pertaining to implementation of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015, the Supreme Court today called for updated data on the trend of filing of commercial litigation across the country to assess whether additional commercial courts are required.

A bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana heard the matter.

The Court was dealing with a petition filed by the Indian Commercial and Arbitration Bar Association seeking directions for time-bound implementation of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015. Through the petition, the ICABA highlighted lack of infrastructure and inadequacy of commercial courts and commercial appellate benches to resolve commercial disputes.

To recap, when this matter was taken up in 2023, the Court had asked Union of India to apprise about the status of constitution of commercial courts in different states/UTs. In February, 2025, the Court called on High Courts across the country to furnish data on pendency of commercial disputes and the infrastructure available for dealing with the same.

In April, 2025, the Court underlined a need for compulsory training of Presiding Officers of Commercial Courts prior to their posting.

"...we expect that Presiding Officers of commercial courts should be imparted some training, orientation or refresher course to apprise them about the nature of commercial disputes pending in a particular [state or region] and the importance of adjudication of these disputes within a reasonable time, for the prolonged pendency of such disputes has a cascading effect on the nation's economy also", it observed.

At the time, Justice Kant (now CJI) also indicated that upon receiving the relevant information, the Court would deal with the requirement of additional infrastructure in a phased manner. Prolonged pendency of commercial disputes has a cascading effect on nation's economy, the Court said.

Appearance: Senior Advocate Arvind Datar and AoR Anannya Ghosh (for petitioner)

Case: Indian Commercial and Arbitration Bar Association (ICABA) v. Union of India, W.P.(C) No.900/2020