Cyrus calls on TCS shareholders to vote "with conscience"

Hours ahead of an extraordinary general meeting in the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) where a resolution to remove Cyrus.P. Mistry will be put to vote, the ousted Tata Sons Chairman on Tuesday called on the company's shareholders to vote "with conscience" and "save the very fabric of the values " that have been inherited in the company.

Acknowledging that the outcome of the meeting is a foregone conclusion as the Tata Sons stake on the company is over 73 percent, Mistry sought to defend himself saying that over several weeks, many have tried to mischaracterize his refusal to go without resistance.

"The very future of TCS hinges on good governance and ethical practices. That can flow only from the promoter and needs to permeate into the board and management. In the past several weeks, we have seen good governance being thrown to the wind in every sense of the term, replaced by whims, fancies and personal agenda. We have witnessed an unmatched erosion of ethical values and the very foundation of the institution being put to grave risk by the conduct of a few," he said.

"What I am fighting for is to save the soul of the Tata Group. Whatever be the decibel level of the voice that would drown your vote, I call on you to vote with your conscience and send a signal that catalyses a larger discussion on governance reform, to save the very fabric of what we have all inherited -- the Tata Values that our Founders handed us," he added.

On November 10, Tata Sons sacked Mistry as the chairman of the IT firm and brought in Ishaat Hussain as the new chairman of the software services firm.

Tata Sons then issued a special notice and a requisition for convening an extraordinary general meeting of TCS to consider a resolution for the removal of Mistry as director of the company.

Mistry was removed as the chairman of TCS under the Articles of Association which state that as long as Tata Sons and its associates hold at least 26 per cent of the paid up equity capital of the company, Tata Sons - which holds over 73 per cent stake in TCS - will have the right to nominate the chairman of the board of directors.