COMMERCIAL BENCH

PRESENTED BY:
RUKMANI KHADKA
B523
 CONCEPT OF BENCH
 In legal contexts bench means simply the location in a
courtroom where a judge sits.
 The word ‘bench’ also has a broader meaning in the
law- it refers to a metonym used to describe members
of the judiciary collectively or the judges of a particular
court.
 As per Black’s law dictionary,” a seat of judgment or
tribunal for the administration of justice; the seat
occupied by judges in courts; also the court itself.”
 It can be referred in various ways such as Queen’s
Bench or Common Bench in England and Wales or
Federal Bench in U.S or Full Bench, Division Bench
where the judges of a certain court sit together to
decide a case.
Evolution of Commercial Bench
in Nepal
 The system of commercial bench can be traced in
the continental legal system, where the trends of a
commercial tribunal, a labor tribunal, an industrial
tribunal and others can be observed.
 In these kinds of tribunals, the specialized skills of
various sectors are brought together for better
understanding of the case and later followed by
US,UK.
 In Nepal seminars organized by Nepal Rastra Bank
in association with the World Bank and IMF
indentified the need of a commercial court/bench in
Nepal for appropriate and speedy dispensation of
justice in commercial case.
 In 2063 B.S, the task force under the Supreme Court of
Nepal reviewed several exercises together with some
international practices for establishment of commercial
bench.
 It studied the reports of Court Management
Committee, 2055 Five year Strategic Planning of the
Court (2061-2066) and Court Strengthening
Committee, 2058.
 Similarly, the Ministry of law and Ministry of Industry had
also carried out some consultation with Supreme Court
for the establishment of commercial bench.
 A project carried out under the loan assistance of Asian
Development Bank (ADB) had hired an expert Hon. C.
W. Pincus Qc who submitted a report recommending a
number of things on establishment of commercial
bench.
 Nepal Judicial Academy (NJA), Federation of
Nepalese Chambers and Commerce and Industry
(FNCCI), also worked very closely with this project
on the commercial bench component.
 According to the report of the Task Force,
Commercial Cases Baseline Survey, 2003 carried
out by Nepal law Campus presents 17 different
kinds of cases on commercial matters tried and
tested in several courts of all over the country.
 The seventeen different kind of cases are-
Company Secured Transaction, Contract,
Arbitration, Finance, Foreign Investment,
Insurance, Construction and others.
 A comparative study on Commercial dispute
settlement of some other countries like U.K, USA,
India and China.
Establishment of Commercial Bench
 On Magh 1 2065, the government of Nepal
established a commercial bench in four appellate
courts namely Biratnagar, Patan, Butwal and
Nepalgunj and later added to Hetauda.
 These commercial benches are provided with
jurisdiction to look after cases of Secured
Transaction Act, 2063, Company Act, 2063 and
Insolvency Act, 2063.
 Later, the government of Nepal, through a
notification published on 2065 Shrawan 5,
extended the jurisdiction of the commercial
benches for the disputes under Banking Offence
and Punishment Act, 2066.
 Numbers of cases going to commercial bench were
filed in the commercial bench of Patan Appellate Court.
 In fiscal year of 2067 154 cases, 237 cases in 2068/069
and 263 cases in 2069/070 were filed in Patan
Appellate Court.
 In present context, Patan High Court look after the
cases related to commercial bench of 11 districts such
as Kathmandu, Bakhtapur, Lalitpur, Makwanpur and
others.
 In the context of procedures, Company Act, 2063 and
Competition and Market Promotion Act, 2063 follow
summary procedure, Secured Transaction Act and
Banking Offence Act follow general procedure and
Insolvency Act follow its own procedure.
 Commercial bench also look after the writ related to
certiorari and orders for injunction.
Subject matter of Commercial Bench
 In current scenario of Nepal, Commercial bench
deals with:
i. Banking Offence and Punishment Act, 2064
ii. Company Act, 2063
iii. Insolvency Act, 2063
iv. Competition Promotion and Market Protection
Act, 2063
v. Secured Transaction Act, 2063
 Similarly it deals the matter related to:
i. Deed of Lease
ii. Dealership
iii. Agreements between the company
iv. Contract
v. Blacklist of banks
vi. Auction of banking
vii. Decision of bank board company
viii. Forfeiture of securities
ix. Security of collateral
x. Tax and revenues
xi. shares
 Reasons for the
establishment of commercial bench
 The first and foremost reason behind the establishment
of this bench is the need for speedy justice, easy
access and quick legal remedies for the commercial
matters.
 People’s Movement II
 It is clearly mentioned that such cases related to
commercial matters will be dealt by the commercial
bench. For e.g. Sec 8 of the Company Act.
 Similarly World Bank, Asian Development Bank,
Company Act and others addressed about the
requirement of this bench.
 Manages the scattered commercial sector.
 Therefore, a commercial bench is established as a
common institution to streamline all commercial case
and bring them under one umbrella.
 SOURCES
 Registrar of Patan High Court –
Baburam Dahal
 http://newbusinessage.com/Articles/vi
ew/1970
THANK YOU……