The Karnataka High Court has imposed costs of ₹50,000 on Wipro Enterprises.
The court stated that Wipro’s appeal against the order of the Bengaluru city civil court constituted an abuse of the “process of law.”
On July 23, 2024, the Bengaluru civil court had asked Wipro to pay ₹6.32 lakh as a promised ex gratia amount along with 10% interest to Ratnesh Pandey, a 51-year-old former regional manager at Wipro.
Pandey, who had been with Wipro from 2005 to 2017 in various capacities, had been offered the ex gratia amount, payable within 18 months of his 2017 departure from the company. Pandey resigned on August 6, 2017, and Wipro accepted the resignation on September 18, 2017.
For the amount, Wipro had stipulated three conditions, which mandated that Pandey could not
- solicit or influence employees of Wipro.
- disclose details if any employee approached him on their own.
- join specified competing companies, including Philips India or Bajaj Electricals, for 18 months.
However, Wipro did not pay Pandey the specified ex gratia amount, claiming that he had not accepted the ex gratia offer letter.
The civil court stated that Pandey had been given no deadline for accepting the letter. Furthermore, a Wipro representative had acknowledged receipt of his acceptance letter on March 22, 2019.
As Wipro did not claim that Pandey had broken any of the three conditions, the civil court ordered Wipro to pay Pandey the promised ex gratia amount. Wipro was also asked to pay 10% interest, calculated from February 19, 2019, when the specified 18-month period ended.
The Karnataka High Court upheld the decision, adding that Pandey’s acceptance of the offer was implicit even if there had been no record of written acceptance, as he had followed all three conditions set by Wipro.
