SC refuses to entertain Chanda Kochhar's plea against ICICI Bank on retirement benefits

No relief for Kochhar from SC

The Supreme Court on December 8 declined to entertain the appeal filed by former ICICI Bank CEO and MD, Chanda Kochhar, regarding her retirement benefits from the private sector lender.

The apex court upheld the division bench's decision to reject Kochhar's interim application for post-retirement benefits from ICICI Bank. Senior advocate Harish Salve, representing Kochhar, argued that the Bombay High Court's ruling was unjust, stating that the bank initially offered retirement benefits to Kochhar but later revoked the offer.  The court, however, refused to entertain the plea.

In May 2023, a division bench of the Bombay High Court upheld the order of a single judge rejecting her interim application seeking post retirement benefits from ICICI bank. The division bench held that granting any relief to Kochhar would cause irreparable prejudice to ICICI Bank, and noted that if the bank succeed in its suit it  would then be required to seek recovery of the shares acquired by Kochhar.

On November 10 2022, the Bombay High Court said the termination of Kochhar from the post of CEO of ICICI Bank was prima facie a “valid termination” and dismissed her interim application seeking post-retirement benefits. The bench also directed Kochhar to not deal with the bank's 6.90 lakh shares she had acquired in 2018. She was also told to disclose in an affidavit all dealings with respect to the shares within six weeks.

Genesis of the case:

In May 2018, ICICI Bank initiated an inquiry against its former CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar. Soon, she went on leave and later applied for an early retirement, which was accepted. The bank then said it had treated her separation as 'Termination for Cause' and had also sought approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for ending her appointment as was mandatory under the provisions of the RBI Act.

In its chargesheet filed in January, 2019, the CBI had said that ICICI Bank, under Kochhar, sanctioned loans to Videocon in violation of the credit policies of the bank. These loans later turned non-performing assets (NPAs) resulting in wrongful loss to the bank and wrongful gain to the borrower and the accused. Thus the

The ICICI Bank-Videocon case is one of the most high-profile scams witnessed  by the Indian banking industry. This marked the downfall of Kochhar, who started as a junior officer in the bank , and later rose through the ranks to head the company.