Suit against ICICI Bank: Court refuses Kochhar interim relief

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Thursday termed the action taken by ICICI Bank against its former managing director and chief executive officer Chanda Kochhar as valid and refused to grant interim relief to her in her suit against the bank.

Both Kochhar and ICICI Bank had filed interim applications which were decided jointly by the HC on Thursday. While Kochhar had sought an honouring of the commitments and contractual obligations made by the bank when she retired on October 4, 2018, the bank sought a claw-back of bonuses and revocation of retirement benefits, including vested and unvested Employee Stock Options (ESOPs) from Kochhar as her services were treated as “termination for cause” from that date.

The single-judge bench of Justice R I Chagla, while pronouncing the order on the interim applications, stated, “I find that the revocation of the early retirement acceptance is valid and do not find… any merit in the contention on behalf of Mrs Kochhar that once there is cessation of employer and employee relationship, acceptance of early retirement cannot be revoked.”

PTI Chanda Kochhar