Refuting all allegations made by Cyrus Mistry, Tata Sons that it was Mistry who had converted the group into his “personal fiefdom” after he became the Chairman of Tata Sons. Refuting all accusations made by the ousted chairman in his letter to the shareholders, Tata Sons said “His “unilateral actions” destroyed precious institutional memory of the House of Tata...his statements have caused the group considerable financial loss that runs into tens of thousands of crores.”

“...Tata trusts have been doing so far is for the people at large and not for any individual or a family. What has come from the people, goes back to people several times over,” it said, adding Tata Sons “strongly and categorically refute the contents of Mistry’s letter”.

About 66 per cent of Tata Sons is owned by the charitable trusts, 18 per cent by Mistry family, 13 per cent by Tata companies, and the balance 3 per cent by individuals.

Countering attacks on the erosion of governance of the trusts, Tata Sons said that the trusts were governed by the individual wills of Jamsetji Tata, his two sons, Sir Dorabji Tata and Sir Ratan Tata, and other founders.

“The trusts have been scrupulously following the mandates set out in the Wills,” it added.

Mistry was appointed as the Chairman of various Tata operating companies only as a corollary to his chairmanship of the parent company, Tata Sons, which has been a long-standing convention in the group.

Therefore, when he was removed as the Chairman of Tata Sons, any other person would have stepped down from the chairmanship of the Tata operating companies because he no longer enjoyed the support of the principal shareholders of Tata Sons. Instead Mistry has chosen to fight this in the media even at the cost of hurting and damaging the Tata group, including Tata companies, even while remaining as its Chairman, it added.

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