Tata Consultancy Services Ltd v Prashant Ashok Singh Sengar
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Mr Simon Picken |
| Judgment Date | 11 July 2014 |
| Neutral Citation | [2014] EWHC 2304 (QB) |
| Docket Number | ICase No: HQ14X02231 |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division |
| Date | 11 July 2014 |
[2014] EWHC 2304 (QB)
N THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
Mr Simon Picken QC
(sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court)
ICase No: HQ14X02231
David Craig (instructed by Mishcon de Reya) for the Claimant.
The Defendant in person.
Hearing date: 6 June 2014
Mr Simon Picken QC:
Introduction
On Friday 6 June 2014 I heard an application for interim injunctive relief requiring the delivery up of certain property belonging to the Claimant ('Tata') and the deletion of any soft copies of that property, and prohibiting the Defendant ('Mr Sengar') from communicating or disclosing to any person Tata's proprietary and confidential information as well as from inducing or procuring any third party to provide him with Tata's proprietary and confidential information.
The hearing took all day, finishing at about 5 o'clock. In the circumstances, given the urgency of the matter, I informed the parties of my decision, which was to grant the relief sought by Tata (subject to certain modifications), but explained that I would give my reasons in the form of a written judgment. This is that written judgment.
Background
Although much of the factual background is not in dispute, there are aspects where that is not the case, most particularly Tata's allegation that Mr Sengar has engaged in blackmail. It should be borne in mind that, in dealing with such matters when setting out the factual background in this judgment, I am not seeking to make final findings in relation to disputed issues, and should not be taken as so doing, since it is not my role, on an application for an interim injunction, to assume the role which the judge at trial will need to perform.
In what follows I shall endeavour to describe the position in a manner which reflects both parties' positions. In doing so, I have had regard, obviously, to the parties' helpful skeleton arguments, as well as to their respective oral submissions, whilst considering the underlying documentation. I have also considered, with care, the witness statements which have been produced: from Tata's witnesses, Mrs Nupur Mallick (Tata's Head of Human Resources in the United Kingdom), and Mr Himanshu Kumar (Resource Deployment Analyst at Tata); and from Mr Sengar himself.
As Mrs Mallick explained, Tata (a multi-national IT consultancy company) is part of the Tata Group, one of India's largest conglomerates, having been established in 1968 as a division of Tata Sons Limited and incorporated as a separate legal entity in India in 1995, prior to its registration in this country as an overseas company in 2004. Operating in the United Kingdom for over thirty years, Tata now has around 7,000 employees working at more than 65 client sites. Its head office is in Grosvenor Place in London, but, significantly for present purposes, it also has an office in Leamington Spa, where Mr Sengar owns and runs a restaurant called Spicy Affair which is, or has been, frequented by Tata employees.
The present proceedings stem out of Mr Sengar's efforts to obtain employment with Tata at the Leamington Spa office and, specifically, his belief that Tata discriminated against him by not giving him such employment. Mr Sengar explained that last October he was told about what he described as a "potential opening" at that office. He said that he showed his interest and that he had an interview the following month. In fact, in an undated witness statement, prepared for the purposes of certain proceedings commenced by Mr Sengar in the Birmingham County Court (about which more later) and exhibited to his witness statement in the present proceedings, Mr Sengar stated that "On or around October 2013 (actual date unknown)" and apparently more than once, he met Mr Randir Kamble, described by him as Tata's "Head – Manufacturing Service Delivery & Projects" but by Mrs Mallick as Tata's Senior Service Portfolio Manager Manufacturing, to discuss an opportunity. He explained in that witness statement that, after a "few meetings", he forwarded his CV "on or around 16 November 2011" (by which he must have meant 2013) and that it was, as he put it, "discussed that suitable offer will be made" by Tata "within their IT Procurement Department".
He went on to say, in the next paragraph of his (undated) witness statement, that "On or around 3 rd December 2013", he was asked by Mr Kamble to send his CV again and that, after apparently discussing the matter with Mr Satya Ryali, described by Mr Sengar as "Head – JR Relationship" (and by Mrs Mallick as a Principal Consultant), Tata (through Mr Kamble) made him an offer to join Tata's "Vendor Management Office as Events and New Facility Manager". Mr Sengar added that he was asked to join Tata with effect from 2 January 2014, and that he was told that "in the meantime" Tata's "Human Resources Team" would "finalise the paperwork" (by which he meant his employment contract).
Mr Sengar explained that he had met Mr Ryali at one of his meetings with Tata (presumably with Mr Kamble) "on or during December 2013" and that "they together" (by which Mr Sengar must have meant both Mr Kamble and Mr Ryali) "explained the role to me". Mr Sengar stated that he accepted the job offer and that he thereafter waited for Tata's Human Resources people to make contact with him. Having heard nothing, Mr Sengar explained that he met Mr Ryali in his restaurant on 28 December 2013 and that he told him that he had not had any contact with the Human Resources Department despite the fact that he was meant to be starting work only a few days later. Mr Sengar stated that Mr Ryali advised him that he would contact the Human Resources Department and asked that Mr Sengar should wait until the first week of January for this to happen.
Mr Sengar was subsequently contacted by Mr Kamble, he explained, and it was arranged that he would meet with both Mr Kamble and Miss Somrupa Nath from the Human Resources Department on 8 January 2014. During that meeting, Mr Sengar explained, he was told that the job was going to be moved from the Vendor Management Office to Tata's Administration section but that the "job profile" would remain the same. He was told that within two weeks "all the approvals from their departments" would be sought and that further contact would be made with him and that he would be sent an employment contract.
Mr Sengar then explained that, despite his chasing, further delay ensued, and that he was "told all the time that it was happening and due to their [Tata's] internal audits and approvals it was just taking longer". It was not until 3 April 2014 that, he stated, Somrupa Nath contacted him to say that she now had "all the relevant approvals" and that he (Mr Sengar) would have to speak to somebody called Suresh (as I understand it, based on an "HR Interview Assessment" document dated 16 April 2014, Mr Suresh Kumar) and a Mr Gandhi (as I understand it, based on the same document, Mr Vishal Gandhi) "to finalise things". Mr Sengar stated that he queried why this was necessary given that he had already been informed "during December and January that the selection was done and it was just a mere formality of getting the contract and finalising the salary". He stated that he also raised a concern about the level of salary "as it was below the market rates".
This was followed, Mr Sengar explained, by his speaking by telephone to Mr Kumar and Mr Gandhi on about 8 April 2014. According to Mr Sengar, during this interview he was asked questions about things which were already apparent from the CV which he had submitted. He was also asked what his expectations concerning the remuneration package were, saying that he explained that he was concerned that the salary on offer was too low and that he had been expecting a salary "in the region of 45K-50K". He stated that he was shocked, as he put it, to hear from Mr Kumar and Mr Gandhi that "they presently have people working within their department and handling the same roles for less than 30K and that they have been sourced internally from their Indian branch". He stated that they "went on to explain to me that people are working on Tier 2 ICT Short term and Long term", and that he was told that "people working within Tier 2 ICT turn out to be cheaper for the company as they don't even have to pay any National Insurance as their visa is valid for less than 12 months and thus the company was not liable to pay any national insurance and also reclaim most of it back as expenses to the company". Mr Sengar went on to say that he was then asked questions about health and safety matters, about which he was not qualified. In his view, it "was clear that they purposely offered low package and wanted me to reject the offer and when that didn't happen they have tried to convince me" to do that "due to not having relevant experience in Health and Safety". Mr Sengar added that he was "convinced that the role was going to be filled by Migrant worker for low wages and without proper experience".
Tata does not accept this. Its position, as explained by Mrs Mallick in her witness statement, is that since last October Mr Sengar has, as she put it, "frequently and persistently contacted a number" of Tata's employees "in search of employment" with Tata. Tata's version of events is that in October 2013 Mr Sengar approached Mr Kamble, whilst he was eating at Mr Sengar's restaurant, and asked him whether there were any suitable job vacancies for him, only for Mr Kamble to say that there were no such vacancies at that time. Subsequently, Mrs Mallick stated, in November 2013, Mr Sengar sent a copy of his CV to Mr Kamble and then made contact with Mr Kamble on numerous occasions by telephone, each time requesting...
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