The Kerala High Court held that a commercial suit filed before an ordinary civil court cannot be rejected for lack of jurisdiction under the Commercial Courts Act. The plaint must be returned for filing in the appropriate forum.
Commercial Suit Jurisdiction: Kerala HC Clarifies Procedure
In a significant ruling, the Kerala High Court has held that a commercial suit filed before an ordinary civil court cannot be summarily rejected on grounds of lack of jurisdiction under the Commercial Courts Act, 2015. Instead, the court must return the plaint for presentation before the designated commercial court, preserving the litigant's cause of action.
The bench emphasized that rejection of a plaint under Order VII Rule 10 of the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC) is not warranted solely due to misplacement of a commercial suit. Citing Section 17 of the Commercial Courts Act, the court observed that exclusive jurisdiction lies with commercial courts for specified commercial disputes, but this does not justify outright rejection. Rather, the proper remedy is return of the plaint under Order VII Rule 10(2)(c) CPC to enable filing in the appropriate forum.
"The jurisdiction of the commercial court being exclusive, the ordinary civil court ought not to entertain a commercial suit. However, the plaint should not be rejected outright but returned for presentation before the commercial court,"
The decision reinforces procedural fairness and ensures that genuine commercial disputes are not dismissed on technical grounds. Practitioners must now ensure that where commercial suits are inadvertently filed before civil courts, the plaints are returned and promptly refiled before the designated commercial court. This ruling underscores the importance of correct forum identification while safeguarding access to justice in commercial litigation.
Citations
- Commercial Courts Act, 2015, Section 17
- Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, Order VII Rule 10
