BackChanda Kochhar moves SC against Bombay HC order on her ‘termination’ from ICICI Bank, seeks post-retirement benefits
Kochhar said she has been denied post-retirement benefits and entitlements, as the bank ‘illegally terminated’ her four months after she voluntarily resigned. The high court had refused to rule in her favour.
PremiumFormer ICICI Bank chief executive officer Chanda Kochhar on October 3 approached the Supreme Court to challenge an order issued by the Bombay High Court that refused to rule against her "termination" by the private lender.
Kochhar, who voluntarily resigned in October 2018, was terminated by the bank in January 2019 – months after the Enforcement Directorate launched an inquiry into her role in the alleged out-of-turn loans worth ₹3,250 crore issued to the Videocon Group, between 2009 and 2018, which in-turn allegedly benefitted her husband Deepak Kochhar.
ICICI Bank had in 2019 conducted an internal inquiry, and concluded that Kochhar had violated the norms related to conflict of interest. The lender was of the view that her exit should not be considered a normal resignation but a dismissal.
Since Kochhar was “terminated" by the bank, she was deprived of the post-retirement benefits and entitlements. In her plea before the Bombay HC earlier this year, the former top banker said her rights, including Employee Stock Options (ESOPs), have been "wrongfully revoked by the bank as a consequence of her illegal termination post her retirement."
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In her petition before the Supreme Court, Kochhar said that the high court did not appreciate her argument that the ICICI Bank had no legal or contractual basis to terminate her following her resignation.
The bank should be restrained by the apex court from “denying, obstructing or interfering with her exercise of the vested and unvested stock options", that were allotted to her under the Bank's Retirement acceptance letter issued on October 4, 2018, the plea added.
Apart from the retirement benefits, the bank has prevented her from dealing in 690,000 shares that she held. “...the HC has wrongly held that the balance of convenience is completely in favour of the bank," Economic Times quoted her appeal as stating.
Kochhar urged the top court to intervene in the matter, saying that she, a recipient of "one of the highest civilian awards in the country Padma Bhushan" and once "rated as one of the most powerful women", is facing “grave persecution" at the age of 62. An apex court bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna will be hearing the case after two weeks.
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