Bank Removed Employee from Job without Inquiry, Court issues Contempt Notice to MD

The Rajasthan High Court has issued a notice to the Managing Director of Kotak Mahindra Bank A. Vaswani and Senior Vice President Rao Saheb Kangane. The court has asked them to explain why contempt of court proceedings should not be initiated against them. This notice has been issued on the allegation of disobeying the court order related to the reinstatement of a former employee by the bank.

Why Notice has been issued?

The case is related to an employee of Kotak Mahindra Bank – Araj Sharma, who was working as a senior manager in the Jodhpur branch of the bank. His service was terminated in January 2022 without any disciplinary inquiry. He challenged this order under the Rajasthan Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1958. After the advocacy done through his lawyer Siddharth Tatia, the competent authority cancelled the service termination order in November 2022 and ordered his reinstatement with all the reward benefits.

The bank challenged this order through a writ petition in the Rajasthan High Court. However, the High Court dismissed the said petition in November 2023 and ordered immediate compliance while keeping the service reinstatement order intact. A special appeal was filed by the bank against the said order. No stay order was received in this. The Chief Justice, while limiting the appeal, clarified that now the subject matter of the appeal is whether a disciplinary inquiry can be conducted after termination of service.

After this, a contempt petition was filed by Araj Sharma alleging ignorance of the service restoration order. On July 15, the Rajasthan High Court issued the contempt notice to Managing Director and Senior Vice President and asked them to explain the reason for not complying the court order. The next hearing is scheduled on August 12, 2025.