Comments
Ousted Chairman of Tata Sons, Cyrus Mistry, on Tuesday took the legal route in his fight against Tata Sons. Mistry has moved the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to protect Tata Sons from “oppression and mismanagement.”
According to sources close to the development, the petition was filed under Section 241 of the Companies Act. The first hearing by the NCLT on the petition is slated for December 22.
The petition also alleges break in governance and claims violation of the Articles of Association of Tata Sons due to the interference of “retired outsiders”.
The move comes a day after Mistry resigned from the board of all Tata Group listed companies. On Monday, Mistry had indicated that that he will shift the fight from EGMs to the court, where he expected the rule of law to be upheld.
“Having reflected deeply, I think it is time to shift gears, up the momentum, and be more incisive in securing the best interests of the Tata Group. In order to be more effective, serve the objective of governance reform, and to regain lost ethical ground, I have decided to shift from the forum of the EGMs to a larger platform and also one where the rule of law and equity is upheld,” Mistry had said.
The case is slated to come up for hearing at the tribunal’s Mumbai Bench on December 22. Mistry has moved the tribunal through two investment firms of his family group, Shapoorji Pallonji Group, which holds just over 18 per cent stake in Tata Sons.
Expecting the move, the Tata Group had pre-emptively filed caveats with the NCLT to ensure Mistry does not get an ex-parte order. Tata Sons, in a statement, said it was served the petition by the NCLT. “Tata Sons is in consultation with its lawyers and will contest the allegations therein,” it added. “Despite Mistry’s recent assertions that it is not a personal issue, it is evident that it always has been for him a personal issue which reflects his deep animosity towards Ratan N Tata,” it added.
Tata Sons also reiterated that it followed the highest standards of corporate governance in its operations and views the petition as an unfortunate outcome of the situation arising from Mistry’s complete disregard of the ethos of the Tata Group and Jamsetji Tata.
“Mistry’s removal as Chairman from the board of Tata Sons was approved by an overwhelming majority of the directors and it is unfortunate that Mistry has not been able to graciously accept the decision of the very same board that appointed him,” it added.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.