While dismissing Kochhar’s petition for an interim relief, the court also restrained her from dealing in the private bank’s 6.90 lakh shares that she had acquired in 2018.
On 7 July, after hearing both the parties Justice RI Chagla had reserved the matter for orders.
The matter pertains to a petition filed by Kochhar for seeking entitlements and retirement benefits that were unconditionally provided to her when the bank had accepted her early retirement in 2018.
Kochhar in her petition stated that the bank was entirely aware of the terms of reference and scope of the enquiry while entering into a contract with her which granted her certain entitlements and benefits.
She alleged that the bank later failed to honour the contractual commitment flowing from the acceptance letter without any clear justification.
The private lender, on the other hand, sought an order directing Kochhar to not act upon any of the stocks till the dispute was completely heard.
Earlier in January, Kochhar filed a suit seeking specific performance commitments and contractual obligations that were promised to her after her early retirement from ICICI Bank in 2018.
According to Kochhar, the bank was obligated to pay her entitlements, which are estimated to be worth almost ₹1,000 crore based on the current market value. She claimed that the bank had broken its contractual obligations and that it was illegal to fire someone who had already retired.
The court also heard an application filed by ICICI bank seeking execution of the claw-back agreement and recovery benefits granted by the bank to Kochhar.
The entire legal tussle between Kochhar and her former employer stems from Justice BN Srikrishna’s enquiry report, following which the board of ICICI Bank sacked Kochhar in 2019 January and decided to claw back all bonuses given to her since 2009 when she took charge of the top post.
As per the enquiry report in relation to the ICICI Bank-Videocon case it was found that Kochhar was in violation of the ICICI Bank code of conduct, its framework for dealing with conflict of interest and fiduciary duties and in terms of applicable Indian laws, rules and regulations.
The board of directors of ICICI Bank had decided to treat the separation of Kochhar from the bank as a ‘Termination for Cause’.
The Bombay High Court in March 2020 rejected the plea of Kochhar, challenging her termination from the bank and claw-back of bonuses she received until March 2018.
Further in December 2020, the Supreme Court too declined to interfere with a Bombay HC order upholding the January 2019 decision of the ICICI Bank to terminate Kochhar’s services as managing director and CEO.
