Rashmi Saluja stares at ouster as chairperson after losing HC appeal to bar Religare from voting on her reappointment

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. A two-judge bench of the Delhi High Court on Thursday dismissed Religare Enterprises Ltd's chairperson Rashmi Saluja's appeal seeking a stay on an earlier single-judge bench's order that had denied her request to restrain the company's board from voting on her reappointment as director.

Senior advocate Sandeep Sethi, representing Saluja, argued in the appeal that the annual general meeting (AGM) agenda violated her contractual tenure (which is secured until 2028), and the conditional Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approval given on 9 December 2024. The two-judge bench of justices Rekha Palli and Saurabh Banerjee noted that voting had already commenced, and declined intervention.

They also found no infirmity in the order of the single-judge bench and dismissed Saluja's appeal. The company's AGM is scheduled for Friday, 7 February.

Voting began on Tuesday morning for three resolutions, one of which pertains to the reappointment of Saluja as a director on the company's board. With this ruling, Saluja has exhausted all options to extend her tenure at the top of the financial services conglomerate, leaving her with the one last recourse of moving the Supreme Court (SC).

Senior advocate Nalin Kohli, who appeared for four of the five independent directors of the company, said that Saluja could approach the SC even though the settled law is that courts don't stay AGMs. "She has not got relief from both the learned single judge or the Division Bench of the Delhi High Court, but if she tries her luck before the SC, it won't come as a surprise." Mint reported on 4 February that around a third of the financial services company's investors might be voting against Saluja’s reappointment as director in