Section 13 commercial appeals lie only from orders enumerated under Order XLIII CPC or Section 37 of the Arbitration Act.

The appeals were taken up together because they raised a common issue of maintainability.

The appellants, engaged in coal transportation, brought separate summary suits under Order XXXVII of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (CPC), concerning amounts deducted by the respondents.

The learned Single Judge held that the suits did not meet the requirements of Order XXXVII and converted them into regular suits. The appellants appealed under Section 13 of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 (the 2015 Act).

Whether an appeal under Section 13(1A) of the 2015 Act lies against an order converting a summary suit under Order XXXVII CPC into a regular suit.

Whether such an order is one of the orders appealable under Order XLIII CPC.

Section 13(1A) of the 2015 Act permits appeals from specified decisions of a Commercial Court or Commercial Division, but its proviso limits appeals from orders to those specifically enumerated under Order XLIII CPC or Section 37 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996; Section 13(2) excludes appeals otherwise than in accordance with the Act.

In HPL (India) Ltd. v. QRG Enterprises, 2017 SCC OnLine Del 6955, the Delhi High Court held that the proviso restricts appeals to orders specifically listed in Order XLIII.

The Supreme Court affirmed this restrictive interpretation in Kandla Export Corporation v. OCI Corporation, (2018) 14 SCC 715, holding that orders not enumerated under Order XLIII, and appeals not provided for under Section 37 of the Arbitration Act, are not appealable under Section 13.

The impugned orders did not decide the claims in the suits; they converted the suits from summary proceedings to regular suits.

The Court examined Order XLIII and found that it makes no provision for an appeal against an order of this kind.

Applying Section 13(1A)’s proviso and the interpretation adopted in Kandla Export Corporation, the Court held that the orders fell outside the categories of appealable orders under the 2015 Act.

The pending applications were disposed of as infructuous.