30/01/2020
On 17 January 2020, the Indian Ministry of Law and Justice issued a notice in the Official Gazette declaring the UAE to be a reciprocating territory for the purpose of Section 44A of the Indian Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
This means that civil judgments from a UAE Court defined as "superior Courts" will now be directly enforceable in India. This is a tremendously important development for all UAE companies and creditors, especially those providing banking and financial services, as creditors based in the UAE will now have a fast tracked route to recover debts and enforce judgments against those who had defaulted on their obligations and fled to India with significant unpaid debts.
Background
Although a bilateral, judicial cooperation treaty existed between the countries, UAE based civil judgment holders had not been able to avail the full benefits of reciprocity that the treaty provided in relation to the ex*****on of judgments in India. This was because of the Indian Central Government's failure to: (i) declare the UAE as a "reciprocating territory" as required by Section 44A of the Indian Code of Civil Procedure, and (ii) specify the list of "superior Courts" within the UAE. Due to this gap in the legislation, holders of UAE civil judgments were previously forced to file fresh lawsuits in Indian courts, either based on their UAE judgment or the original cause of action. This led to high costs, lengthy delays and uncertainty with respect to seeking financial recovery from debtors located, or having assets, in India.