• Inadequate Dedicated Benches: A petition filed by the Indian Commercial and Arbitration Bar Association (ICABA) highlighted a severe shortfall in the number of dedicated commercial courts relative to growing case volumes.
• Infrastructure Deficits: Specialized dispute mechanisms require digital infrastructure (e-filing, virtual hearings, dedicated case management systems) that remains uneven across states.
• Lack of Timely Compliance: High Courts from states including Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Telangana, and Tripura failed to furnish updated pendency figures, impeding data-driven judicial planning and allocation.

• Mandate: Enacted to expedite the adjudication of commercial disputes of a specified value (amended in 2018 to lower the threshold from ₹1 crore to ₹3 lakh to widen reach).

Hierarchy:

• District Level: State governments, in consultation with respective High Courts, can set up Commercial Courts at the district level.
• High Court Level: Commercial Appellate Divisions and Commercial Divisions in High Courts exercising ordinary original civil jurisdiction.

• Mandatory Pre-Institution Mediation: Section 12A mandates Pre-Institution Mediation and Settlement (PIMS) unless urgent interim relief is sought, designed to relieve trial backlog.
• Strict Procedural Timelines: Introduces rigorous case management hearings and strict deadlines for written statements to curb dilatory litigation tactics.

• Enforcing Contracts & Investment: India historically ranked poorly on the “Enforcing Contracts” indicator of the World Bank’s erstwhile Ease of Doing Business metrics. Prolonged commercial dispute resolution increases the risk premium for domestic and foreign direct investment (FDI).
• Judicial Overburdening: Without dedicated infrastructure, commercial cases spill into ordinary civil rosters, aggravating systemic pendency across lower and higher courts.
• Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Linkages: Inefficiencies in commercial courts cascade into arbitration, as post-award challenges under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 frequently congest commercial divisions.

The Commercial Courts Act, 2015, judicial infrastructure deficits, and their linkage to Ease of Doing Business and FDI are recurring OPSC Prelims (Polity) and OPSC Mains GS Paper II topics, especially given the Orissa High Court’s direct involvement in this Supreme Court compliance exercise.

For structured notes on Odisha’s judicial governance and polity current affairs, aspirants preparing in Bhubaneswar can join the OPSC Foundation Batch at Strive Edge IAS — recognized as one of the best OPSC OAS coaching institutes in Bhubaneswar.