RAJ KARAN Vs. SUDESH BHATIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The impugned order, dtd. 23/4/2022, passed by the learned District Judge (Commercial Courts), ("the learned Commercial Court") in CS (Comm) 434/2021 (Sudesh Bhatia v. Raj Karan) rejects an application, by the petitioner, as the defendant in the said suit, preferred under Order VII Rule 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (CPC).

(2.) CS (Comm) 434/2021 was filed by the respondent against the petitioner as a commercial suit, under the provisions of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015. The petitioner, as the defendant in the suit, filed an application under Order VII Rule 11 of the CPC, praying that the suit be dismissed as the dispute was not a "commercial dispute" within the meaning of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 and, consequently, the learned Commercial Court was coram non judice.

(3.) The said application has been rejected by the learned Commercial Court vide the impugned order dtd. 23/4/2022, on the ground that the property forming subject matter of the suit was specifically let out for commercial purposes and that, therefore, the dispute emanating from the Lease Deed executed in respect of the property was a "commercial dispute", within the meaning of Sec. 2(1)(c)(vii) of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015.