Agartala, April 5 (IANS) The Tripura government will soon set up commercial courts in each of the eight districts to resolve commercial disputes in a time-bound manner, an official said here on Tuesday.
Among the eight northeastern states, Tripura would be the first state to set up commercial courts.
According to the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division, Commercial Appellate Division in High Courts Bill, 2015, that was passed by parliament in December last year and became an Act in January this year, commercial disputes involving a claim of Rs. one crore or above would be dealt with by the commercial division of the concerned high court or commercial court.
"We have requested the Tripura High Court to issue notification in setting up of commercial courts in all the eight districts of Tripura," state law secretary A.K. Nath told IANS.
He said: "The High Court can constitute a commercial division and notify setting up of commercial court in the districts headed by district judge or additional district judge."
According to the official, of the eight districts in Tripura, five districts have district courts and in the remaining three districts additional district courts are functioning.
"The Tripura High Court has already agreed to set up the commercial court in the state," Nath added.
According to the Act, commercial dispute is defined broadly to mean a dispute arising out of ordinary transactions of merchants, bankers, financiers and traders such as those relating to mercantile documents, joint venture and partnership agreements, intellectual property rights, insurance and other areas.
According to the Act, all commercial disputes will be resolved within a maximum of 18 months by the proposed court.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his budget speech of 2015 had said that for quick resolution of commercial disputes, the government proposes to set up exclusive commercial divisions in various courts in India based on the recommendations of the 253rd report of the Law Commission.
