3 HC Benches recuse from hearing plea of HDFC CEO

Three Bombay High Court benches have so far recused themselves from hearing HDFC Bank CEO and MD Sashidhar Jagdishan’s plea to quash an FIR of cheating and fraud registered against him on a complaint filed by the Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Medical Trust.

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While some judges cited having worked with either the trust or the lawyers appearing for it, one judge on Thursday voluntarily disclosed that he held few shares of the HDFC Bank.

Senior counsel Amit Desai appearing for Jagdishan said they did not have an objection with the same but counsel Niteen Pradhan appearing for the trust took an objection.

Pursuant to this, the Bench of Justices MS Sonak and Jitendra Jain recused itself and said the matter shall be placed before another bench.

Desai told the Bench that it was facing an issue in this matter due to recusal by previous benches too.

The court then said in a lighter vein that there should be more Benches now and the strength of judges should be increased.

According to the complaint filed by the trust, which owns and manages the prominent Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai, Jagdishan allegedly accepted a bribe of Rs 2.05 crore in exchange for providing financial advice to help the Chetan Mehta Group retain illegal and undue control over the trust’s governance.