A civil court in Bangalore has disposed of Wipro’s suit against its former chief financial officer Jatin Dalal by referring the matter for arbitration. The court allowed an interlocutory application (IA) by Dalal seeking arbitration with his former company on Wednesday.

The court in its order said, “I.A.No.5 filed by the defendant/applicant under Sec.8 of the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996 is hereby allowed. Consequently, by exercising power under Sec.8(1) of the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996, the parties are hereby referred to the arbitration in terms of the arbitration clause in the agreements.”

Another application by Dalal seeking the production of certain documents was, however, dismissed by the court.

“I.A.No.4, filed by the defendant under Sec.8(2) of the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996 is hereby dismissed as the digitally signed electronic records of the agreements with a certificate under Sec.65-B of the Indian Evidence Act have already been produced by the plaintiff,” the XLIII Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge said.

The suit against Dalal filed by Wipro on November 28 seeks payment of compensation of Rs 25.15 crore with interest of 18 per cent for allegedly violating a clause in his employment contract with the company.

Wipro had charged Dalal of breaking a non-compete clause in his contract that prevented him from joining any rival company for a year after leaving Wipro.

Dalal quit Wipro in September and went on to join Cognizant as its chief financial officer in December.