The Bombay High Court has been approached by the former Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ICICI Bank Chanda Kochhar challenging the sanction granted by the bank’s Board to prosecute her in the Videocon-ICICI Bank loan case.
The petition filed by Ms Kochhar mentions that the bank has not followed proper procedure while granting the sanction.
The counsel for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) named Advocate Kuldeep Patil,has requested the court for some time to file a reply to the petition.
Taking the request,a division bench of Justice PD Naik and Justice NR Borkar granted time to file a reply and posted the matter for hearing on January 5, 2024.
The petition by Kochhar stated that the ICICI Bank board had adopted a resolution on April 22, 2023, for granting sanction to prosecute her.
The petition mentions that this was informed by the CBI to a special court in June 2023.
The lawyer of Kochhar alleged that bank did not follow proper procedure to grant this sanction and that the bank had not suffered any loss.
Chanda is accused of cheating and irregularities in relation to a loan of ₹3,250 crore granted in 2012 to the Videocon Group, which became a non-performing asset for the ICICI Bank.
Kochhar went on leave thereafter and later applied for early retirement, which was accepted. The bank had then said it treated her separation as ‘Termination for Cause’ and also sought regulatory approval from the Reserve Bank of India for her termination of appointment as is mandatory under the provisions of the RBI Act.