The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has partly allowed ICICI Bank's review application in proceedings involving former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Chanda Kochhar and loans extended to the Videocon Group.
According to a report by Moneycontrol, the tribunal modified its May 2, 2025, order, removing directions that would have allowed Kochhar to inspect the bank's internal Secretarial Portal and electronic data stored on its servers and devices.
SAT held that the disputed material was neither in the possession of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) nor part of the regulatory record.
SAT accepts ICICI Bank's concerns
ICICI Bank challenged the earlier inspection direction, arguing that it was not a party to the original proceedings despite being affected by the order.
The bank maintained that unrestricted access to internal systems could expose confidential third-party information, unpublished price-sensitive information and privileged communications.
SAT accepted these concerns, noting that Kochhar had not identified specific documents required from the portal.
The tribunal observed that SEBI had already supplied the Project Indus Report, the Control Risks Report and other documents relied upon in the proceedings.
It reiterated that a noticee is entitled to documents forming the basis of regulatory action.
Kochhar's lawyers questioned the maintainability of the bank's review application and argued that access should be permitted because Control Risks India had previously examined the portal.
Tribunal reviews earlier document
SAT noted that Kochhar had approached it in 2021 seeking documents but had not requested access to the Secretarial Portal during those proceedings or subsequent litigation in 2022.
Her lawyers first sought the disputed electronic records in February 2024.
SEBI informed her in March 2025 that the material was not part of its record and would not be relied upon.
The tribunal also referred to its January 2023 decision rejecting requests for certain interview transcripts, meeting records and correspondence involving the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
It found that similar considerations applied to the portal and server data.
However, the remaining directions in the May 2025 order remain unchanged, including those concerning disclosure of documents such as SEBI's show-cause notice to ICICI Bank.
