Mumbai: Putting a rest to the rumours abounding on the future leadership of Tata Sons Ltd and Tata group companies, Cyrus Mistry in a statement on Sunday said that he will not pursue chairmanship of Tata Sons and neither directorship in the three Tata group companies.
“Interests of Tata group are far more important than interest of any individual or me,” said Mistry. However, he will seek a board seat, for improving governance standards at Tata Sons, he added.
On 18 December, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) had reinstated ousted chairman Cyrus Mistry and held as illegal the appointment of N. Chandrasekaran as his successor. The appeals court had also reinstated his directorship in three group companies – Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) and Tata Industries Ltd. This was for the remainder of his tenure, which was just about five months.
NCLAT had cited haste in removal of Mistry as chairman of the Tata group’s holding company, ignoring the interest and oppression of minority shareholders, and mismanagement at TataSons as reasons for the ruling.
“To dispel the misinformation campaign being conducted, I intend to make it clear that despite the NCLAT order in my favour, I will not be pursuing the executive chairmanship of Tata Sons, or directorship of TCS, Tata Teleservices or Tata Industries,” said Cyrus Mistry in a statement issued on Sunday.
This statement comes a day before the Supreme Court is set to hear the Tata Sons petition which had challenged the NCLAT ruling. The conglomerate had moved a petition in the apex court on 2 December citing that the ruling was untenable in law and violated set principles of Company Law. The Supreme Court is set to hear the plea on 6 January after it reopened after winter vacation.
Mistry was ousted as chairman of Tata Sons on 24 October, 2016 in a board room coup. This ended his tenure five months before, as tenure would have otherwise ended in March 2017. This triggered a three-year long corporate and legal battle between the Mistry firms and majority shareholders of Tata Sons. The case landed in National Company Law Tribunal in December 2016 where the Mistry firms namely Cyrus Investments Pvt. Ltd and Sterling Investments Pvt. Ltd own 18.4% of ordinary shares in Tata Sonsalleged oppression of minority shareholders and mismanagement.
While Mistry is letting go of executive chairmanship, he will be seeking a board seat.
“I will however vigorously pursue all options to protect our rights as a minority shareholder, including that of resuming the thirty-year history of a seat at the Board of Tata Sons and the incorporation of the highest standards of corporate governance and transparency at Tata Sons,” he added.
“Firms of the Mistry family headed by billionaire Pallonji Mistry considering that they are the largest minority investors Mistry firms may seek more than one board seat,” said a person familiar with the group’s thinking.
Source: Livemint