In short. People in Noida often assume there's a commercial court somewhere nearby. There isn't. Suits from Noida and Greater Noida go to the Commercial Court for Gautam Buddh Nagar, in the district court complex at Surajpur. Ghaziabad suits go to whichever court is designated for Ghaziabad, and under the original Uttar Pradesh arrangement that's Surajpur as well, so check the current notification before you file. Gurugram suits go to the Commercial Court for Gurugram district, which now sits in the new Tower of Justice complex. Anything from Rs 3 lakh upwards qualifies. There's no upper limit. Your first step is Section 12A mediation.
Is this your situation?
- A customer in Greater Noida West has owed you a few lakh for months, and your accountant says it's time to sue. Sue where, though?
- Someone told you the commercial court is in Sector 62. Someone else said Ghaziabad city. You'd rather not find out the hard way.
- The buyer's office is in Okhla, the goods went to its Kasna plant, and you're in Sahibabad. Three possible courts and no clear answer.
- Your purchase order says the courts of one city have jurisdiction, but every truck was unloaded in another.
- You had a suit running in Gurugram before the 2026 court fire, and nobody has told you what happened to your file.
- A summons arrived from Surajpur (or Gurugram) last week and you don't know which building to walk into.
The short answer
For a business dispute worth Rs 3 lakh or more, the court depends on the district the dispute belongs to. Noida, Greater Noida, Dadri and Jewar are all in Gautam Buddh Nagar district. Commercial suits from there are filed in the Commercial Court for Gautam Buddh Nagar, which sits in the district court complex at Surajpur, Greater Noida. Noida city has no court that takes them. None at all.
Ghaziabad needs checking. When Uttar Pradesh set up its commercial courts in 2017, it attached Ghaziabad and Hapur to the Commercial Court at Gautam Buddh Nagar, so Ghaziabad suits went to Surajpur too. Fresh notifications can change that. Confirm on the day you file which court is designated as the Commercial Court for Ghaziabad. Gurugram is simpler. Much simpler. Disputes from Gurugram, Manesar, Sohna and Pataudi go to the court designated as the Commercial Court for Gurugram district. A fire hit the old complex in May 2026, and in July 2026 the Gurugram courts moved to the new judicial complex people call the Tower of Justice.
None of the three districts has an upper value limit. That's because neither the Allahabad High Court nor the Punjab and Haryana High Court hears civil suits on an original side. Before you file, apply for pre-institution mediation under Section 12A at the District Legal Services Authority. The one exception is a case that genuinely needs urgent interim relief. Appeals go to Prayagraj from Noida and Ghaziabad, and to Chandigarh from Gurugram.
Each district and its commercial court, on one table
| Your dispute belongs in | Where you file the suit | Section 12A mediation | Where the appeal goes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gautam Buddh Nagar district (Noida, Greater Noida, Greater Noida West, Dadri, Jewar, the Yamuna Expressway belt) | Commercial Court, Gautam Buddh Nagar, in the district court complex at Surajpur | DLSA Gautam Buddh Nagar, also at Surajpur | Commercial Appellate Division, Allahabad High Court, Prayagraj |
| Ghaziabad district (Ghaziabad city, Sahibabad, Indirapuram, Vaishali, Loni, Modinagar, Muradnagar) | Whichever court is designated as Commercial Court for Ghaziabad. Under the 2017 arrangement that was the Commercial Court at Gautam Buddh Nagar, but check the current notification | The authority competent for the court where your suit will lie. Ask at DLSA Ghaziabad | Commercial Appellate Division, Allahabad High Court, Prayagraj |
| Gurugram district (Gurugram city, Manesar, Sohna, Pataudi, Farrukhnagar) | The court designated as Commercial Court for Gurugram district, now at the Tower of Justice complex | DLSA Gurugram | Commercial Appellate Division, Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh |
| Any of the three, if the claim is under Rs 3 lakh | The ordinary civil court of the Civil Judge in that district | You don't need it | The usual appeal route inside the district or to the High Court, depending on value |
Which commercial court actually hears Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurugram cases?
It comes down to Section 3 of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015. Under it, the State Government sets up commercial courts at district level after consulting the High Court. Where the High Court has ordinary original civil jurisdiction (Delhi's is the obvious one), the district commercial courts only hear suits up to the High Court's threshold. Uttar Pradesh and Haryana don't have that. Their district-level commercial courts take every commercial suit of Rs 3 lakh and above. Size doesn't matter.
UP set up its commercial courts through government orders in late 2017. Only some districts got one, and each was given neighbouring districts to cover. Gautam Buddh Nagar got Ghaziabad and Hapur on top of its own area. Since then more than one judge has sat as a commercial court at Surajpur, and the picture shifts whenever new courts are created or posts are filled. Haryana kept it simpler. In April 2016 it set up a Commercial Court in every district, with the First Additional District Judge presiding. In a district as busy as Gurugram, though, later orders do adjust postings and designations.
So the safe answer is this. Your suit goes to the court designated as the Commercial Court for that district on the date you file. The sections below explain what that looks like in each district, and how you check it.
Surajpur: where Noida and Greater Noida suits are filed
Every commercial suit of Rs 3 lakh or more that arises in Gautam Buddh Nagar district gets filed at the district court complex in Surajpur, Greater Noida. That covers the shops and offices around Sector 18 and Film City, the IT companies along Sectors 62 and 63 and the Noida Expressway, and the factories in Phase II, the Hosiery Complex, Ecotech and Kasna. It also covers Greater Noida West and the Yamuna Expressway authority area, right down to the airport belt at Jewar. The district's three tehsils (Dadri, Gautam Buddh Nagar Sadar and Jewar) all sit under one district judgeship.
The distance catches Noida business owners off guard. From the Sector 62 side, Surajpur can be an hour's drive in office traffic. You may have to go in person for mediation, for evidence and sometimes for the first hearing too. Plan for it. If your witness is a finance head who can't spare a morning, that's a real problem, and better found out early.
You file at the civil filing section of the complex, or online through the eCourts e-filing portal where it's accepted for that kind of case. Once the suit is registered it gets a CNR number. Keep it handy. You'll use it to track dates and orders on the eCourts services website and app. The district court website puts up cause lists, usually the evening before. For how cases actually move at that court, see our page on the Gautam Buddh Nagar (Noida) commercial court. The practical side of attending is in our guide on working with a lawyer near Surajpur court.
Ghaziabad: check the designation first
Most filing mistakes we come across happen in Ghaziabad. It's easy to see why. The Ghaziabad district court complex hears ordinary civil suits, criminal cases and a great deal else, so people assume it hears commercial suits too. But the 2017 Uttar Pradesh arrangement put Ghaziabad's commercial suits within the area of the Commercial Court at Gautam Buddh Nagar. On that footing, a Sahibabad manufacturer suing a Loni distributor for Rs 18 lakh files at Surajpur. Not Ghaziabad.
Fresh orders revise these arrangements, and a court could be designated inside the Ghaziabad judgeship one day. Don't go by last year's file. Don't go by what a colleague did in some other case either. Check the latest notification from the Allahabad High Court and the UP government, and ask at the civil filing counters in both complexes. Advocate B.K. Singh's team checks the current designation in the week a Ghaziabad suit is filed and notes the source on the file. Why so careful? A plaint filed in the wrong court can be returned under Order VII Rule 10 after months of hearings, and any interim order you got goes with it.
Mediation needs the same check. If the suit will lie at Surajpur, ask which legal services authority should take the Section 12A application, and try to get that answer in writing. The background is on our Ghaziabad commercial court page. Our guide to a commercial court lawyer near Ghaziabad district court covers attending there.
Gurugram's commercial court since the 2026 move
In Gurugram, the commercial court is whichever court is designated as Commercial Court for Gurugram district. It hears every commercial suit of Rs 3 lakh and above from anywhere in the district, Manesar, Sohna, Pataudi and Farrukhnagar included. The sub-divisional civil courts don't take these suits. It all goes to district headquarters.
In May 2026 a fire started in the record room of the old Gurugram district court complex. Records were lost and part of the building couldn't be used. For a few weeks around twenty courts ran out of a PWD rest house, mostly hearing urgent matters. Then on 9 July 2026 the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the courts to shift to the new judicial complex known as the Tower of Justice, which was inaugurated that same month. New commercial suits are filed and heard there now.
If you had a commercial suit pending in Gurugram before mid-2026, check three things. First, whether the court still has your full record, or whether bits of it must be rebuilt from certified copies and the parties' own sets. Second, the next date against your CNR number, since a lot of matters were adjourned in bulk. Third, which floor and courtroom your court is on now. There's more on the court itself on our Gurugram commercial court page, and our guide on a commercial court lawyer near Gurugram district court deals with attending the new complex.
Rs 3 lakh and up. No ceiling.
Under Section 2(1)(i) of the Act, as amended in 2018, a business dispute becomes a commercial suit once its specified value reaches Rs 3 lakh. Section 12 tells you how to work that value out. For a money claim, it's the amount you claim plus interest calculated up to the date of filing. For a claim about property, it's the market value. Take a Rs 2.6 lakh principal with Rs 50,000 of pre-suit interest. That's a commercial suit, and it has to follow commercial procedure. Our guide on the Rs 3 lakh rule has more worked examples.
Under Rs 3 lakh, the same dispute is an ordinary civil suit before the district's Civil Judge. No strict commercial timelines. No compulsory mediation. Above Rs 3 lakh, UP and Haryana set no upper limit at all, so a Rs 4 lakh invoice claim and a Rs 40 crore infrastructure claim start in the same district court.
Delhi works differently, and NCR businesses need to know how. There, commercial suits up to Rs 2 crore go to the District Judge (Commercial Court), and anything above Rs 2 crore goes to the Commercial Division of the Delhi High Court. A proposal to raise the district limit has been under consideration, so check the current figure. If you could file either in Delhi or in one of these three districts, value tells you which Delhi court is the alternative.
The sections that decide where you file
Section 2(1)(c), Commercial Courts Act, 2015
This defines a commercial dispute. It takes in disputes arising out of trade and commerce: supply of goods and services, construction and infrastructure, distribution and franchise, partnership and shareholder agreements, IP, insurance, carriage of goods, and leases of property used only for business.
Sections 2(1)(i) and 12, Commercial Courts Act
The specified value has to be Rs 3 lakh or more. Section 12 explains how you calculate it, and for money claims that includes interest up to the date of filing.
Section 3, Commercial Courts Act
The State Government constitutes district-level commercial courts after consulting the High Court, and fixes their local limits. That's why each district's court is whatever the notification says it is.
Section 12A, Commercial Courts Act
If your suit doesn't contemplate urgent interim relief, you can't file it until you've exhausted pre-institution mediation. The Supreme Court held this mandatory in Patil Automation v. Rakheja Engineers (2022), for suits filed from 20 August 2022.
Section 13, Commercial Courts Act
Appeals from a district-level commercial court go to the Commercial Appellate Division of the High Court. You get 60 days.
Section 20 and Order VII Rule 10, Code of Civil Procedure, 1908
You can sue where the defendant lives or carries on business, or where the cause of action arose, wholly or in part. If a plaint lands in a court without jurisdiction, it's returned so you can present it in the right one.
When two of these courts (or Delhi) can hear the same case
Value gives you the level of court. Territory gives you the district. Section 20 CPC lets you sue where the defendant resides or carries on business, or where the cause of action arose wholly or in part. And part of a cause of action arises where the contract was made or accepted, where the goods were delivered or the services performed, and where payment was due.
NCR businesses are hardly ever in one place. A Ghaziabad seller delivering to a Noida buyer may be able to choose Surajpur on more than one ground. Think of a Gurugram buyer whose registered office is in Delhi and which took delivery at a Manesar warehouse. You may be able to sue it in Gurugram or in Delhi. Write down the defendant's offices, every delivery point, the billing addresses and the bank where you were to be paid. The possible courts tend to show up on that one page.
Then read the contract. Properly. A clause giving jurisdiction only to the courts at Gurugram, or only to the courts at Delhi, is generally enforced if the chosen court had jurisdiction anyway. Purchase orders and invoices that name different cities are common. Which one governs depends on which document formed the contract, and that's often arguable. For a dispute with a company in another state, our guide on suing a company in another state explains how branch offices and registered offices are treated.
Section 12A mediation: which authority to go to
In these districts, the District Legal Services Authority runs pre-institution mediation under the Commercial Courts (Pre-Institution Mediation and Settlement) Rules, 2018. A Noida or Greater Noida dispute goes to DLSA Gautam Buddh Nagar at the Surajpur complex. Gurugram goes to DLSA Gurugram. Ghaziabad is the awkward one. Ask the DLSA which authority should handle a matter whose suit will lie in the court designated for Ghaziabad, particularly if that court sits at Surajpur.
The application itself is short. A page or two. Parties, addresses, what the dispute is about and the amount, with the prescribed fee. The authority sends notice to the other side. If they don't turn up or won't mediate, the authority issues a non-starter report, and you file the suit with that report attached. If both sides do take part, the process has to finish within three months, which can be stretched by two months if both agree. Time spent in mediation is excluded from limitation. A settlement signed before the mediator has the status of an arbitral award.
Skipping mediation is a gamble we don't advise. Courts have rejected plaints under Order VII Rule 11 where it was bypassed without real urgency. And the urgency has to show from the plaint and documents (stock being moved out this week, say), not from the word 'urgent' typed into the title. Our page on Section 12A mediation through the legal services authorities goes through the process.
Filing in these three districts, one step at a time
Pin down the district and the court
Put the defendant's offices, the delivery points and the place of payment next to any jurisdiction clause, and pick the district. For Ghaziabad, confirm which court is designated right now. If Delhi's also an option, compare the two before you commit.
Check value and limitation
Add pre-suit interest to the principal. That's your specified value. Then work out the limitation date from the last invoice, the last payment and the last written acknowledgment, and note how much time is left.
Apply for Section 12A mediation
File the application at the right DLSA. Attend the sessions, or collect the non-starter report if the other side stays away. Use those weeks to finish your documents.
Get the plaint and documents ready
Draft the plaint with every document you rely on, a list of all documents in your control, and a statement of truth signed by someone who actually knows the facts. Sort out the board resolution or authority letter now. Not on filing day.
Pay court fee and file
Pay court fee under the Uttar Pradesh or Haryana schedule, whichever applies, through the e-stamp or court fee system in use. File at the civil filing section or by e-filing. Write down your CNR number.
Clear objections and get a first date
The filing section may object on court fee, verification or documents. Cure them fast. Then the suit is listed before the commercial court for summons and any interim application.
Serve the defendant at every address you have
Give the registered office from the MCA record, the GST principal place of business, the factory or branch address and email IDs that people actually read. Many NCR suits lose their first three months right here.
How long it takes and what it costs in Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurugram
| Stage | How long it usually takes | Costs to budget for (not lawyer fees) |
|---|---|---|
| Section 12A mediation at the DLSA | Up to 3 months, extendable by 2 with consent. Quicker if it's a non-starter | Whatever mediation fee the authority fixes. Check the current schedule |
| Drafting and filing | 2 to 6 weeks once documents are ready | Ad valorem court fee on the claim under the UP or Haryana schedule. Check the current schedule before filing |
| Service of summons | Anything from a few weeks to several months, depending on how good the addresses are | Process fee, plus courier or postal charges |
| Written statement | 30 days from service. Extendable with costs, up to 120 days | Costs ordered on any extension |
| Disclosure, admission and denial, case management | Roughly 2 to 4 months after pleadings close | Inspection and copying costs |
| Evidence and arguments | Often 12 to 24 months, depending on the witnesses and how crowded the court's list is | Local commissioner's fees if evidence is recorded before one, and witness travel |
| Appeal under Section 13 | Has to be filed within 60 days. Hearing time at Prayagraj and Chandigarh varies | Court fee on the appeal, and a deposit if you want a money decree stayed |
What the filing counter and the judge will want to see
Jurisdiction and value
- The contract or purchase order, with its jurisdiction and arbitration clauses
- Delivery challans, e-way bills or completion certificates that show where the supply or work happened
- Your working of the specified value, with interest up to the filing date
- The Section 12A non-starter or failure report, or the facts that show real urgency
Who the parties are
- MCA master data for a company defendant, showing its registered office
- GST registration details showing the principal place of business
- A board resolution or authority letter for whoever signs on your side
- Partnership registration or the proprietor's details, if that's how you trade
Proof of the claim
- Invoices, a ledger extract and any balance confirmations
- Emails, WhatsApp chats, and the legal notice with proof it was delivered
- A certificate under Section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 for electronic records
- The court fee receipt or e-stamp certificate
What it's like on the ground at Surajpur, Ghaziabad and Gurugram
Start with language. A lot of routine work in UP and Haryana district courts happens in Hindi, and orders may be written in Hindi too. English pleadings are accepted and Hindi documents are routine. But if your main witness reads only English, or the matter could end up in a High Court, keep translations of the important papers ready. Lawyers' strikes and condolence references cost dates in district courts in both states. Some hearings will be lost through nobody's fault. Budget for that.
Cause lists are long. Very long. A district-level commercial court may be juggling big suits and small ones, interim applications and arbitration petitions, all on the same morning. Bring a one-page note to each hearing saying what you want that day, with page references. It lets a busy judge deal with your matter in the few minutes available.
Track everything by CNR number. For all three districts, the eCourts services website and app show next dates, orders and the stage of the case. You apply for certified copies at the copying section. Online copies are becoming more common, though some purposes still need a certified one. Some courts allow video hearings for some purposes. Practice varies, so confirm before you rely on a link instead of turning up.
Delhi or the NCR district, if you get to choose
Plenty of NCR disputes could be filed in Delhi or in one of these districts. If you have that choice, make it on purpose. Not out of habit. Court fee schedules differ between Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. The appeal goes to a different High Court: Prayagraj for Noida and Ghaziabad, Chandigarh for Gurugram, the Delhi High Court for Delhi. And in Delhi a claim above Rs 2 crore goes straight to the High Court's Commercial Division, which has its own rules and lists.
When a client asks Advocate B.K. Singh to choose between Delhi and an NCR district, he puts four things on one sheet. The court fee in each place. Where the defendant's assets are, for execution later. Where the witnesses are. And which court would hear an appeal. Say you get a decree at Surajpur against a company whose bank accounts and property are all in Delhi. It'll need transfer for execution. That's fine, but it's a step you plan for, not one that surprises you.
Don't pick a court just because it's nearer your office if the clause or the facts point somewhere else. Our pages on the Allahabad High Court and the Punjab and Haryana High Court explain how each hears commercial appeals.
An invented example: one box maker, three districts
This one is made up. A corrugated box maker in Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, supplies packaging to an electronics assembler in Noida's Phase II. The assembler's registered office is in New Delhi, and it also runs a warehouse in Manesar, Gurugram, where a third of the boxes went. The purchase orders say disputes are subject to the courts at Noida. Rs 54 lakh is unpaid. The invoices go back eight months.
Look only at Section 20 and the box maker has four candidates. Ghaziabad, where it accepted the orders and was to be paid. Gautam Buddh Nagar, where the defendant does business and took most deliveries. Gurugram, because of Manesar. And Delhi, for the registered office. The purchase order clause cuts this down to Noida, which in practice means the Commercial Court for Gautam Buddh Nagar at Surajpur. Gautam Buddh Nagar had jurisdiction anyway, so the clause will very likely hold.
The box maker applies to DLSA Gautam Buddh Nagar for mediation. The assembler doesn't show up, a non-starter report follows, and the suit is filed at Surajpur with court fee paid under the Uttar Pradesh schedule. Without the clause, the real choice would have been Surajpur or the Delhi district commercial court (the claim is under Rs 2 crore). Court fee, witnesses and where the assembler banks would have decided it.
Where people go wrong when picking the court
- Filing in Ghaziabad without checking the designation. Months later the plaint comes back, you refile in the right court, and service starts all over again.
- Thinking Noida has its own civil court for commercial suits. It doesn't. You're going to Surajpur.
- Ignoring the jurisdiction clause. If the contract names another city and that court had jurisdiction, expect the defendant's very first application to ask for your plaint to be returned.
- Leaving interest out when you value the suit. If interest takes the claim past Rs 3 lakh, it's a commercial suit. File it as an ordinary one and you'll face objections you didn't need.
- Mediating before the wrong authority. A non-starter report from an authority with no link to the court where the suit lies is an open invitation to object.
- Forgetting that Gurugram moved. Pending cases may have old addresses on summons and notices, and records gone missing after the fire. Both need sorting out.
If you've been served from one of these courts
Find the court's name and the case number on the summons. Then search the case on the eCourts services website to confirm the court, the next date and the stage. Write down the date you were served. It matters more than anything else on that paper. In an ordinary commercial suit your written statement is due within 30 days of service, and it can never be filed after 120 days. In a summary suit you get just 10 days to enter appearance.
If you believe the suit's been filed in the wrong district, or without Section 12A mediation, raise it at the first opportunity. But don't let that objection eat into your time for the written statement. The clock keeps running.
What to do this week
Pull out the contract and read the jurisdiction and arbitration clauses. List every address connected with the deal. Add interest to the principal and see whether you cross Rs 3 lakh. If it's a Ghaziabad dispute, check the current designated court before you do anything else. Then apply for mediation at the right authority and use those weeks to get your documents and statement of truth in order. For more on each court, read our page on the commercial court at Surajpur for Noida and Greater Noida and the one on the Gurugram commercial court.
Want someone to check your contract, invoices or summons and confirm the right court before you file or reply? Or to hear when designations in these districts change? Send your papers to Advocate B.K. Singh's team through the contact page.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a commercial court in Noida city?
No. Commercial suits from Noida, Greater Noida and the rest of Gautam Buddh Nagar district are filed in the Commercial Court in the district court complex at Surajpur, Greater Noida. A few other courts and offices sit elsewhere in the district. The commercial court isn't one of them.
Can I file a Ghaziabad commercial suit in Delhi instead?
Only if a Delhi court has territorial jurisdiction. That could be because the defendant carries on business in Delhi or part of the cause of action arose there, and there's no valid clause shutting Delhi out. If the claim's above Rs 2 crore, the Delhi forum would be the High Court's Commercial Division.
Do Gurugram or Noida courts have an upper limit for commercial suits?
No. In Haryana and Uttar Pradesh the district-level commercial court hears every commercial suit of Rs 3 lakh and above, however big. The High Courts there don't hear civil suits on an original side.
Do I have to go to Surajpur in person for mediation?
Usually the parties or their authorised representatives attend the sessions at the authority. Some authorities allow online sessions. If the other side doesn't appear, you'll get a non-starter report and won't need to keep going back. Check the current practice with the authority itself.
Where do I check the next date in a Gurugram case after the fire?
Put your CNR number into the eCourts services website or app. It shows the next date and the court. If your case was pending before May 2026, also ask the court staff whether the full record is there or has to be rebuilt from copies.
Which High Court hears appeals from the Noida and Ghaziabad commercial courts?
The Commercial Appellate Division of the Allahabad High Court at Prayagraj, under Section 13 of the Commercial Courts Act. You have 60 days from the judgment. Gautam Buddh Nagar and Ghaziabad fall under the principal seat, not the Lucknow bench.
My claim is Rs 2.8 lakh plus interest. Where does it go?
Add interest calculated up to the date of filing. If that takes you to Rs 3 lakh or more, it's a commercial suit, so Section 12A mediation first and then the commercial court. If you're still under Rs 3 lakh, it's an ordinary civil suit before the Civil Judge.
Can a Gurugram suit be filed in the Sohna or Pataudi courts?
No. Not a commercial suit of Rs 3 lakh or more. Those are heard by the court designated as the Commercial Court for the district, at headquarters, wherever in Gurugram district the dispute comes from. Smaller, non-commercial suits follow the ordinary civil court rules.
Advocate B.K. Singh
Founder of B.K. Singh & Associates. MCA, LL.B., LL.M. More than twenty years in practice before the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court, district and commercial courts in Delhi NCR, and tribunals.
This guide explains the law in general terms and is not legal advice. For advice on your own papers, contact the team.