Ease of doing business: New draft laws ready

THREE BILLS The move will make it easier to enforce contracts & resolve business disputes; law ministry has prepared the proposals

NEWDELHI: The Union law ministry has readied three draft bills to amend key laws dealing with India’s regulatory and arbitration framework so that it becomes easier to enforce contracts and resolve business disputes, a top government official said on Wednesday.

The ministry, which is pushing for changes in at least three laws, says the move will further improve the ease of doing businessinIndiaandpromoteitasan investment destination. It wants the government to present the amendment bills in the winter session of Parliament.

The changes include modifying a 2015 law to reduce the pecuniary jurisdiction of commercial courts from ₹1 crore to ₹3 lakh, enablingtheresolutionofalarger number of business disputes faster, said the official, who was involved in drawing up the amendment.

The ministry also wants to amend the law to enable the setting up of commercial courts in territories over which only high courts have civil jurisdiction. Delhi is one such state, and the time and money spent on commercial dispute resolution in the capital city is one of the ways to improve India’s ranking on the World Bank’s influential ease of doing business index.

Thegovernmentisalsokeento bringinastatuteandsetupaNew Delhi Centre for Arbitration, the official said, adding: “We are working on the final nomenclature.” A panel set up under Justice BN Srikrishna recommended in August that the government take over the InternationalCentreforAlternativeDisputeResolution(ICADR) fromtheSupremeCourtanduse it to turn India into a hub for international arbitration.

Themovesareinkeepingwith PM Narendra Modi’s ambitions to turn India into an alternative destination to Singapore for international arbitration. The lawministry,apartfromworking on the key area of ‘enforcing contracts’, will also assist other ministries and departments to draft legislative and administrative proposals that help improve India’s ranking in the ease of doing business, a document prepared by the legal affairs secretary Suresh Chandra said.

“The indicator of ‘enforcing contracts’measuresthetimeand cost for resolving a commercial dispute through a local court of the first instance and the quality ofjudicial processesindex,evaluatingwhethereacheconomyhas adoptedaseriesofgoodpractices that promote quality and efficiency in the court system,” it added. Last month, the World Bank released its rankings for 192 countries in which India finished at the 100th spot, up 30 places from last year, which the governmentdescribedasaquantum leap.

“The new rankings make it clearthatIndiaisbecomingaparadigmofbestpracticesintheregulatory framework for business. We have now started work on breakingintothetop50,”asource intheministryinvolvedwiththe process said.

THE MINISTRY WANTS THE GOVERNMENT TO PRESENT THE AMENDMENT BILLS IN THE WINTER SESSION