Tata Sons, TCS violated rules in sacking Mistry, says RTI

The dramatic sacking of Cyrus Mistry as chairman and director of Tata Sons and TCS violated provisions of Companies Act, RBI rules and more importantly, Tatas' own articles of association, RoC, Mumbai said in an RTI reply, a charge that the Tatas have vehemently denied.

Citing the NCLT order of August, which dismissed Mistry's petition challenging his removal, Tata Sons said all the requisite processes under the Companies Act were followed in removing Mistry as the group chairman and also from the board of group crown jewel Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

"The respective board of directors acted as per the provision of the Companies Act as well as in compliance of the articles of association of the company. This was subsequently approved by both the shareholders of Tata Sons and TCS the NCLT has also confirmed that the process followed for removal of Mistry was valid and accordance with law," a Tata Sons spokesman told PTI.

The statement further said, "All requisite processes were followed in line with the Companies Act in case of Mistry's removal from the board of TCS as also as the chairman of TCS and Tata Sons."
The RTI reply quotes SP Kumar, RoC Mumbai who in a February 17, 2017 letter had said that "RoC having come to the conclusion that transactions are void [Annexure C point (1) to (4)] has to express in unequivocal words whether the e-form is to be rejected or e-form or document as the case may be, as invalid in the electronic record in terms of rule 10(4) of Companies (Registration Offices and Fees) Rules, 2014."