Lathika Pai, a former senior executive at the Microsoft India, recently moved the Delhi High Court against Microsoft Corporation (India) and its top management for allegedly forcing her to resign from the company. .She claimed ₹35 crores in damages in the civil suit for alleged breach of employment contract and loss of employment. The matter was listed before Justice Jyoti Singh on May 7..However, Microsoft challenged the maintainability of the suit before the Court. Senior Advocate Amit Sibal argued that Delhi High Court lacked the territorial jurisdiction to entertain the suit..Advocate Pritha Srikumar Iyer, appearing for Pai, then sought permission to move the City Civil Court of Bangalore which also has pecuniary jurisdiction to entertain the plaint.Accordingly, Justice Singh allowed the suit to be withdrawn from High Court. The High Court ordered that the matter be listed for consideration on June 9 before the Bengaluru court."Accordingly, this plaint is returned for the Plaintiff to file the same in the City Civil Court, Bangalore, where the parties will appear on 09.06.2025.".Pai in her suit alleged that she was unnecessarily subjected to four years of investigation over an office project. According to her suit, the investigation was indefinitely kept open without conclusion for the purpose of tarnishing her reputation.Pai also alleged that the company was concealing the documents concerning her. Thus, she said that she should be given custody of those documents and they must be preserved. The suit claimed that that Microsoft is “engaged in systematic discriminatory treatment against her, creating an orchestrated retaliatory environment characterized by isolation, threats of termination, and deliberate withholding of fundamental information, all of which were contrary to Microsoft’s policies,”.When Pai asked questions about the deviation from company’s polices, the management of Microsoft collectively stonewalled her and engaged in a continuous pattern of opaque, arbitrary, and abusive actions in retaliation, as per the suit.Pai thus claimed damages for loss of economic prospects in form of salary and bonuses and the resultant mental trauma.“Such vicious conduct amounts to a tort of intimidation and coercion, of forcing the Plaintiff to act in a manner that she was not legally bound to do and otherwise causing mental trauma and loss of economic prospects which would render the Defendants liable for damages,” she said in the suit. .Senior Advocate Sajan Poovayya with advocates Pritha Srikumar Iyer and Anwesha Singh from Keystone Partners, Advocates and Solicitors appeared for Pai. Senior Advocate Amit Sibal with advocates Vinaura Kopuhar, Pallav Shukla, Shreyasi and Raashika Kapoor appeared for Microsoft India. [Read order]
