New Law Minister hits the ground running Ashwani Kumar declares support for commercial Benches in High Courts says Accountability Bill will not harm judicial independence

Barely three days into his tenure as Minister of Law and Justice, Ashwani Kumar announced that he is in support of the establishment of separate “commercial Benches” in the various High Courts via the Commercial Division of High Courts Bill, 2009 (the Bill) to deal exclusively with commercial matters. The new Law Minister also spoke to journalists about the pending Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill, which is likely to be discussed in the upcoming Winter Session of the Parliament. 

Barely three days into his tenure as Minister of Law and Justice, Ashwani Kumar announced that he is in support of the establishment of separate “commercial Benches” in the various High Courts via the Commercial Division of High Courts Bill, 2009 (the Bill) to deal exclusively with commercial matters. The new Law Minister also spoke to journalists about the pending Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill, which is likely to be discussed in the upcoming Winter Session of the Parliament.

Although the idea of establishing separate benches for commercial transactions is not a new proposal (the Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in 2009) this news report indicates that the Bill may not be relegated to the background for too long. The Bill essentially calls for the creation of dedicated Commercial Division in each High Court to adjudicate on commercial disputes valued at greater than Rs. 5 crores. (You can read PRS’ summary of the Bill here)

Yesterday, Kumar met PH Parekh, the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association followed by an interactive session with the media. As per this article in The Hindu  Kumar “sought to dispel the impression” that the proposed Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill would dilute or interfere with judicial independence in any manner. Kumar also stated that efforts will be made to ensure that judicial vacancies are filled up “as early as possible”. 

Photo courtesy the Rajya Sabha webpage.