The Bombay City Civil Court (Amendment) Act, 2023 was enacted by the Government of Maharashtra enhancing the pecuniary jurisdiction of the Bombay High Court to INR 10 crores.
Up until 2012, the pecuniary jurisdiction of the Bombay High Court was above INR 50,000 and post the 2012 amendment, was increased to INR 1 crore. With the present amendment the pecuniary jurisdiction has been further increased to INR 10 crores.
The primary object behind the present amendment is to reduce the caseload of the Bombay High Court because due to sharp escalation of value of properties in Bombay, the valuation of the civil suits relating to the properties have also increased which led to increase in the number of civil disputes filed in the Bombay High Court.
After the amendment, it is now expected that over 8,000 pending civil disputes would have to be transferred from the Bombay High Court to the Bombay city civil courts. Pertinently, the present amendment does not impact (i) suits arising out of arbitration agreements, (ii) suits arising out of special acts such as Indian Trust Act, 1882, (iii) suits involving intellectual property, and (iv) suits arising out of admiralty, testamentary and matrimonial matters. The jurisdiction of these matters will continue to remain with the Bombay High Court.