Doctrine of Forum non Conveniens - Indian Laws - General

Doctrine of Forum non Conveniens The term forum non conveniens is a latin term which means; an inconvenient forum and provides that a court which otherwise might have jurisdiction may decline jurisdiction over a case if there is a more appropriate forum available to the parties, and is typically invoked in respect of cross-border subject-matters that are amenable to multiple concurrent jurisdictions. Depending upon the nature of the dispute, the subject-matter involves and the parties thereto, the courts by invoking this doctrine proceed to determine which one of the available forums may be more convenient and fair for entertaining and adjudicating the matter. In order to apply the doctrine of forum non conveniens an dequate alternative forum must exist where the subject-matter may be espoused. The alternative forum must be capable of providing a fair and adequate remedy for the dispute, however this does not mean that the alternative forum must offer identical remedies, and this doctrine may be applied as long as the other alternative forum offers a reasonably fair process of remedy and is more convenient or appropriate in the opinion of the court invoking the doctrine. Courts in doing so must weigh the relative importance of private and public interest factors. In doing so, they exercise a high level of discretion and often issue rulings that are fact-specific. In Spiliada Maritime Corp v. Cansulex Ltd. reported in [1987] AC 460, the House of Lords while considering a non-exclusive jurisdiction clause laid down the test for applying the doctrine of forum non conveniens to decline jurisdiction on the grounds that another forum is more appropriate. It held that where the court is satisfied that there is some other available forum, having competent jurisdiction, which is more appropriate to decide the dispute the courts can decline its jurisdiction or stay the proceedings before it in favour of a more suitable forum for the interests of all the parties and the ends of justice. M/S ARIF AZIM CO. LTD. VERSUS M/S MICROMAX INFORMATICS FZE - 2024 (11) TMI 393 - SUPREME COURT (LB)