'Ratan Tata lied, Cyrus Mistry was not allowed to voluntarily step down'

Tata Sons board ousted Mistry on October 24 and appointed Ratan Tata as Interim Chairman

The Office of Cyrus Mistry on Wednesday rebutted Tata Sons Interim Chairman Ratan Tata's revelation that Mistry was given a chance to voluntarily step down from the position which he declined, and was then formally replaced.

Tata Sons board ousted Mistry on October 24 and appointed Tata as Interim Chairman.

"Ratan Tata does not speak the truth. His claim that Mistry's treatment at Tata Sons Board on that day was well-deliberated and was preceded by various attempts to discuss with Mistry is a lie," Mistry's office said in a statement.

"Five minutes before the Board Meeting scheduled on October 24, 2016, Nitin Nohria and Tata came to Mistry's room and told him that on that very morning, the trustees had taken a decision to replace Mistry ostensibly because Tata could not get along with him."

"The fait accompli presented to Mistry was that he could leave or face a sacking at the Board Meeting scheduled in the next 5 minutes."

The rebuttal came after Ratan Tata issued a letter, addressed to the stakeholders, ahead of the extra-ordinary general meetings (EGMs) that have been called by several Tata Group companies to remove Mistry from their respective boards.

"Neither was there any deliberation nor was there any prior attempt at remediation as Ratan Tata now seeks to make out," the statement from Mistry's office said.

"Ratan Tata's false statements are borne out by the fact that just weeks before this event, the Board had accepted the Nomination and Remuneration Committee's endorsement of superlative performance by Mistry and his team."

In his letter, Ratan Tata claimed that Mistry was given a chance to voluntarily step down from the Chairman's position which he declined, and was then formally replaced.

"Mistry was replaced as the Chairman of Tata Sons, after four years in that role, on October 24, 2016, because the Board of Tata Sons lost confidence in him and in his ability to lead the Tata Group in the future," Ratan Tata said in a letter addressed to the group companies' shareholders.

"As you would expect, this deliberated action by the Tata Sons Board was taken after the relationship with Mistry steadily deteriorated, and several attempts to remediate went unheeded."

"As a final step, he was offered an opportunity to step down voluntarily from the Chairman's position, which he rejected, and said that it should be taken up at the Board. This was done and he was formally replaced."