E-Paper
Nothing wrong in sacking Chanda Kochhar: ICICI Bank tells HC
The ICICI Bank on Tuesday told the Bombay high court (HC) that “there was nothing wrong” in the termination order given to former CEO Chanda Kochhar, after she had
The ICICI Bank on Tuesday told the Bombay high court (HC) that “there was nothing wrong” in the termination order given to former CEO Chanda Kochhar, after she had resigned, as the contract was private. Kochhar had challenged the move in the HC. The next hearing has been scheduled for February 28.
The bank submitted that there was nothing “averse in the termination order as the bank was not providing any statutory or sovereign function, hence the contract between the bank and Kochhar was private and did not fall under the purview of government services”.
Senior advocate DJ Khambata representing the bank told a division bench of justice Nitin Jamdar and justice Makarand Karnik that their preliminary objection was the petition was not maintainable.
Khambata pointed out that ICICI Bank is a private bank and not the ‘state’ or its agency or instrumentality and therefore a writ petition cannot be filed against it.
He further referred to the submissions of the bank in an earlier affidavit, which stated the bank was not owned or controlled by the state and was administered in accordance with the Companies Act, 2013 by its board of directors. He said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was the regulating authority and a procedure was laid down for hiring or firing employees, but as the contract between Kochhar was governed by the Contract Act, the termination was valid.
He then referred to various orders of the Supreme Court wherein contracts between persons involved in public service could not be governed by the government body and stated that in light of these orders, the petition was not maintainable.
He also submitted that the board of directors had decided to “treat her separation from the bank as termination for cause” under the bank’s internal policies, schemes and the code of conduct based on the report of justice (retired) Shrikrishna report.
