Commercial suits filed in ordinary civil courts should be returned for filing before Commercial Courts, not rejected as barred by law, Kerala High Court rules.

The plaintiff filed O.S. No. 209 of 2023, seeking dissolution of a partnership, before the First Additional Sub Court, Thrissur.

She applied under Order VII Rule 10A CPC, contending that the dispute was commercial and the plaint should be returned or taken on file as a commercial suit.

The Sub Court held that the suit belonged before the Commercial Court and ordered the plaint returned for presentation there.

Defendants 1 and 2 appealed, arguing that the plaint could not be returned for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction and instead had to be rejected under Order VII Rule 11(d) CPC.

1. Whether a plaint concerning a commercial dispute, filed before an ordinary civil court rather than a Commercial Court, is liable to be rejected under Order VII Rule 11(d) CPC

2. Whether the plaint may instead be returned under Order VII Rule 10 CPC for presentation before the appropriate Commercial Court

Order VII Rule 11(d) CPC requires rejection where the suit appears from the plaint to be barred by law; it does not apply absent a statutory prohibition against instituting the suit.

Order VII Rule 10 CPC permits return of a plaint for presentation to the court in which the suit should have been instituted.

The Commercial Courts Act, 2015, including Sections 2(1)(c), 6 and 15, provides for the adjudication of qualifying commercial disputes by designated Commercial Courts but does not itself bar the institution of such a suit; therefore, filing a commercial suit before an ordinary civil court does not, on that ground alone, require rejection under Rule 11(d).

The Court agreed with the reasoning in J P Realities Pvt. Ltd. v. Mahesh and Virender Kumar v. Rekha Bhayana, which support return of the plaint in these circumstances, and distinguished Rimi Albi v. Kerala State Co-operative Bank as addressing a different situation.

The Court treated the commercial nature of the dispute as undisputed and identified the question as the proper procedural response to filing it before the Sub Court.

Because the Commercial Courts Act did not prohibit the institution of the suit, the Court held that Order VII Rule 11(d) was not attracted.

It considered return under Order VII Rule 10 appropriate so the plaint could be presented before the court designated to try the commercial dispute, and found no error in the Sub Court’s order.

The impugned order was upheld and the appeal was rejected without costs.