A civil court in Bengaluru has referred the lawsuit involving Wipro and its former CFO Jatin Dalal to arbitration, allowing his plea.
Wipro had moved court against Dalal and sought damages of Rupees 25.15 crore from him, along with 18% interest per annum till the date of payment, for violating a non-compete clause when joining Cognizant. In a counter move, Dalal had filed two interlocutory applications seeking arbitration with his former company.
Cognizant’s filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shows that Dalal, while accepting its offer of employment, gave an undertaking that he was not bound by a non-compete clause with Wipro. The offer letter given by Cognizant to Dalal, reviewed by FE, also clearly states that Wipro is a direct competitor to the New Jersey-based IT major.
Dalal further has also entered into an “Executive Employment and non-disclosure, non-competition, and invention assignment agreement” with Cognizant, which restricts him in directly or indirectly owning of financing any competitor or be employed or provide service to any competitor, for a period of one year.
Dalal worked with Wipro for over 21 years and served as its CFO since 2015. He joined Cognizant as its CFO in December.
