Restrain Tata from attending board meetings, says Mistry

Asks National Company Law Tribunal to appoint a new selection committee to choose Tata Sons chairman

In his petition to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry asked the tribunal to restrain Ratan Tata from attending Tata Sons board meetings or interfering in the affairs of Tata Sons. 

Mistry also asked the tribunal to restrain the existing selection committee from discharging its function of choosing the next executive chairman and appoint a new selection committee. 

He asked the tribunal not to allow the appointment of a candidate without its permission. He said the existing selection committee consisted of nominees of Tata Trusts and Kumar Bhattacharya, who owed allegiance to Tata, minority shareholders – the Mistry family with their 18.37 per cent stake in Tata Sons – have no representation, the petition said. 

Mistry also said the nominee directors of the Tata Trusts and independent directors on the Tata Sons board were incapable of discharging their fiduciary obligations, and that the tribunal should supersede them and appoint an administrator to look after the day-to-day affairs of Tata Sons. 

Mistry requested the court to appoint a retired Supreme Court judge as non-executive chairman and appoint new independent directors. This would ensure that the Tata Sons board would start taking decisions in the interest of all stakeholders, and not be influenced by the dictates of the Tata Trusts trustees, said the petition. 

Mistry also asked the court to pass a restraining order on Tata Trusts trustee N A Soonawala from interfering in the affairs of Tata Sons as he has been issuing instructions to the nominee directors of the Trusts on the board of Tata Sons. 

Mistry requested the tribunal to order an investigation into the role of the Tata Trusts trustees in the operations of Tata Sons and operating companies and prohibit their interference. He asked for a forensic audit into the transactions entered by the Tata group with C Sivasankaran and Mehli Mistry. 

Mistry also said that Tata Sons had suffered a loss of Rs 158.65 crore in purchasing the shares of Tata Motors only to strengthen its ability to vote out Mistry as chairman of Tata Motors.