Power struggle erupts in Tata Trusts as trustees clash over board appointments

Tata Trusts which exerts decisive influence over Indias most valuable conglomerate through its about 66 per cent stake of Tata Sons finds itself in the midst of infighting among its trustees over board appointment and governance issuesSources said the Trusts is said to be vertically split with one section aligned with Noel Tata who was appointed chairman of the Trusts following the death of Ratan Tata The other grouping of four trustees is led by Mehli Mistry who has ties with the extended Shapoorji Pallonji family which owns about 1837 per cent of Tata SonsMehli reportedly feels he has been kept out of the loop on key mattersSources said the flashpoint is said to be board seats at Tata Sons which controls the 156yearold group that spans around 400 companies including 30 listed firmsThe dispute has its roots in a meeting of six trustees of the Tata Trusts the umbrella group representing several charitable trusts including the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sri Ratan Tata TrustThe meeting on September 11 was convened to consider the reappointment of former defence secretary Vijay Singh as a nominee director on the Tata Sons boardThere are seven trustees of the Tata Trusts including Singh Singh did not attend the September 11 meeting as his nomination was on the agendaFollowing the death of Ratan Tata in October 2024 Tata Trusts introduced a policy requiring annual reappointment of nominee directors on the Tata Sons board once they turn 75 At the September 11 meeting the reappointment of 77yearold Vijay Singh a director since 2012 and trustee since 2018 was proposed by Trusts Chairman Noel Tata and Venu Srinivasan chairman emeritus of TVS GroupHowever the four other trustees Mehli Mistry Pramit Jhaveri Jehangir HC Jehangir and Darius Khambata opposed the move leading to the resolutions rejectionFollowing the rejection the four trustees sought to nominate Mehli Mistry to the Tata Sons board but Noel Tata and Venu Srinivasan opposed the move emphasising the need for a transparent process aligned with Tatas values Subsequently Vijay Singh voluntarily resigned from the Tata Sons boardAnother meeting of the Board of Tata Trusts is scheduled for October 10 but the agenda is not knownWhen contacted Tata Trusts Tata Sons and Venu Srinivasan declined to commentComments from Mehli Mistry could not be obtained as calls and messages remained unansweredSources said that with the infighting among trustees of Tata Trusts threatening to impact the functioning of the over USD 180 billion conglomerate the intervention of the government has become necessaryThe primary question in front of the government considering how significant and important the Tata Group is to the countrys economy is whether it can let an individual take control of it The infighting among trustees of Tata Trusts has an impact on Tata Sons a source saidThe development comes at a time when the deadline set by the RBI for public listing of Tata Sons classified as an upperlayer shadow bank expired on September 30 although the company has applied for for voluntary surrender of the Certificate of Registration as a CIC Core Investment Company and to continue as an unregistered CIC The application is under examination by the RBISome within the group feel that the four trustees led by Mehli Mistry have been trying to undermine Noel Tatas leadership in Tata TrustsThe matter of listing Tata Sons under the RBI mandate is secondary at the moment compared to the threat of the Tata Group falling into the hands of a few individuals another source notedTata Trusts Chairman Noel Tata and Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran along with some trustees of the Tata Trusts are likely to meet union cabinet ministers reports sayThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever