Bombay High Court rejects Chanda Kochhar plea for retirement benefits

Private lender's sacked chief has filed a lawsuit asking her former employer to fulfill contractual responsibilities

A division bench of the Bombay High Court on Wednesday refused to provide interim relief to former ICICI Bank chief Chanda Kochhar on her request for retirement benefits from the bank, said an Economic Times report.

Kochhar, who was sacked after ICICI first accepted her request for early retirement in 2018, has filed a lawsuit seeking specific performance of the former employer's contractual responsibilities to her benefits.

Last year, the Supreme Court refused to issue an interim order on Kochhar’s plea and asked her not to deal in the 69,000 ICICI Bank shares she claimed had been assigned to her. If she had dealt with any shares, she was required to report that in an affidavit, the court said then while accepting the bank's plea.

Kochhar then approached the division bench. The division bench of Justices K R Shriram and Rajesh Patil upheld the single-judge court's ruling on Wednesday, saying there was nothing to demonstrate that the judge's discretion was "arbitrary, capricious, perverse, or unwarranted in law".

The division bench ruled that the trial court used its discretion in a reasonable and judicial manner. "While not conclusive, the learned single judge's observations on the appellant's conduct are critical in nature. If the appellant's interim reliefs are granted, the respondent (ICICI Bank) will suffer irreparable loss and prejudice," it said.

It added that because the respondent is a publicly traded company, the balance of convenience is completely in its favour, and if the appellant wins her suit, the respondent can be directed to purchase shares from the stock market or pay an amount equal to their value to the appellant.