HC rejects plea of American Express to restrain movement of employee

New Delhi, May 25 (UNI) The Delhi High Court has rejected the plea of the American Express Bank seeking direction to a former employee restraining her from using or disclosing any trade information , which she had gained during her service with the multi-national bank.

In an interim order, Justice Anil Kumar said the bank had used the confidentiality clause just to prohibit the employee from quitting the bank.

The bank had moved the court seeking restraint on Priya Puri, who worked as the head of the wealth management, Northern region, from using the information and data related to the bank's wealth management operations and programmes.

It had also sought a direction to Ms Puri to deliver all the confidential information, data and trade secrets particularly the customer list of its wealth management operations.

The judge observed that the injunction would have direct impact on curtailing the freedom of the employee in her future prospects and service. ''Rights of an employee to seek and search for better employment are not to be curbed by an injunction even on the ground that she has confidential data," said the order.

The American Express had terminated Ms Puri's services in October last year on the ground that during her course of employment she had disclosed confidential information to some persons other than its customers.

She misused its confidential information and trade secrets for her benefits and violated the bank's customer private policy, the Bank submitted during the arguments.

Ms Puri had allegedly failed to return the customer list and violated the intellectual property rights of the bank, the petitioner claimed.

However, Ms Puri had used directories of various organisations including that of the PHDCCI for bringing business for the bank.

The Court stated that the details about the customer were neither a trade secret nor a property of the bank.

UNI PAT MSJ RAI2020