Justice Department launches “Enforcing Contracts Portal”

Source: PIB

What is the News?

The Department of Justice has launched the “Enforcing Contracts Portal”.

Background:

• The Doing Business Report is the flagship publication of the World Bank Group. It benchmarks business regulations in 191 economies.
• The Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) index ranks countries. It is an indication of an economy’s position relative to that of other economies across 11 indicators of business regulation.
• The “Enforcing Contracts’‘ is one of the indicators. It measures time and cost to resolve a standardized commercial dispute.
• Currently, only the cities of Delhi and Mumbai are under the purview of the World Bank. Kolkata and Bengaluru are also likely to be included in the future.

About Enforcing Contract Portal:

• The portal aims to promote ease of doing business and improve the ‘Contract Enforcement Regime’ in the country.
• Key Features of the Portal:
  • Firstly, the portal will be a comprehensive source of information related to the legislative and policy reforms, that are undertaken on the Enforcing Contracts parameters.
  • Secondly, the portal will provide easy access to the information on commercial cases in the Dedicated Commercial Courts of Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Kolkata.
    • These Dedicated Commercial Courts have been established for the speedy resolution of commercial disputes
  • Lastly, the portal will also provide access to a repository of commercial laws.

Why was the Enforcing Contract Portal launched?

• The Department of Justice is the nodal department for the Enforcing Contracts indicator.
• In the Enforcing Contracts indicator, India has achieved 163rd position in the Doing Business Report 2020. This is an improvement of 23 positions from the 186th rank in 2015.
• But the portal has been launched to ensure that India’s ranking in this Enforcing Contracts indicator comes within the TOP 50.