Former ICICI CEO Chanda Kochhar has received a big blow from the Supreme Court. On Friday, December 8, the Supreme Court rejected the petition filed by former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar regarding retirement benefits. The Supreme Court upheld the decision of the High Court, in which the court had rejected Kochhar’s interim application for post-retirement benefits. Senior lawyer Harish Salve, appearing for Kochhar, argued that the Bombay High Court’s decision was unjust. Salve said that the bank had initially offered retirement benefits to Kochhar, but later canceled it.
In May 2023, the Bombay High Court had also upheld the single bench order dismissing the petition seeking post-retirement benefits. The bench acknowledged that giving any relief to Kochhar would have a negative impact on ICICI Bank. The court had said that if the bank succeeds in its case, it will have to recover the shares held by Kochhar.
Court had given instructions regarding shares
On November 10, 2022, the Bombay High Court had said that Kochhar’s termination from the post of CEO of ICICI Bank was completely legal. After which his interim application demanding post-retirement benefits was rejected. The bench also directed Kochhar not to deal with the 6.90 lakh shares of the bank purchased in 2018. He was also asked to disclose all transactions in relation to the shares in an affidavit within six weeks.
This is the whole matter
In May 2018, ICICI Bank initiated an investigation against its former CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar. Soon, she went on leave and later applied for retirement, which was accepted. The bank had also sought approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to terminate his appointment under the provisions of the RBI Act.
In its charge sheet filed in January 2019, the CBI had said that ICICI Bank under Kochhar had approved the loan for Videocon in violation of the bank’s credit policies. These loans later turned into NPA, due to which the bank suffered huge losses and the borrower and the accused benefited unfairly. The ICICI Bank-Videocon affair is one of the most high-profile scams the Indian banking industry has seen.
