Vaish Mumbai associate and ILS Pune graduate Vikas Keyal, who joined the firm three years ago, has been promoted to corporate head and relocated to Bangalore.

It is understood that Vasudevan’s decision to leave was in part prompted by the limited autonomy to the Bangalore outpost, with management of its tax practice being run out of Delhi and the corporate strategy out of Mumbai.

Vaish Mumbai partner Hemant Puthran told Legally India that Vasudevan was recruited to Bangalore as an extension to the Delhi office in order to build-up the firm’s tax practice but that the strategy had since changed.

“We have decided to ramp up corporate,” said Puthran. “Tax practice is a niche area and it cannot develop and gain traction in Bangalore as much as it can in cities like Delhi and Mumbai.” He added that if the firm would look for a suitable person to head the Bangalore tax practice and hopefully fill the position soon.

Vasudevan said: “I have a lot of respect for Mr O P Vaish but nobody leaves such a role just within a year of joining. I have put my reasons in the resignation letter - certain promises that were made to me initially have not been fulfilled.”

Vasudevan said that he had now accepted an offer to join as head of taxation for south-east Asia in a multinational company, whose name he said he could not disclose.

Puthran noted that the firm would capitalise on opportunities created by Vasudevan during his tenure and that the parting was amicable.

In February 2010 the Vasudevan said he wanted to ramp up the Bangalore headcount to 24 lawyers by this year.

The office was now only four to five lawyers in size, said Puthran, but within the next fiscal year it would be developed into an independent profit centre.

In November of last year Vaish Associates had promoted nine new non-equity partners, in a first for the firm that had operated an all-equity partnership with salaried heads of departments on the next rung. Four department heads are currently at the firm.