Though the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) refused to stay the holding of the extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of Tata Sons (TS) to oust former chairman Cyrus Mistry (pictured), the case filed by his companies in December 2016 in the NCLT, citing oppression and mismanagement at the Tata Group, continues.
The shareholders of TS, at the EGM held on February 6, 2017 removed Mistry who holds 18% of the shares of the apex holding company, as a director. With this, Mistry was removed from the only position that he had held on to within the Group, following his resignation from the directorship of several Group companies. N. Chandrasekaran, erstwhile chief executive of Tata Consultancy Services takes over as chairman of the Group on February 21, 2017, the first non-Parsi to head the house of Tata.
The EGM had a single item on the agenda: Mistry’s removal as director, which was a foregone conclusion, as the Tata trusts and Group companies hold the controlling stake within the apex holding company TS. The Times of India of February 7, 2016 reported that four TS shareholders: JRD Tata Trust, Tata Education Trust, Tata Social Welfare Trust and R. D. Tata Trust had moved the resolution for the removal of Mistry, who voted against the resolution through a proxy. Noel Tata, half brother of interim chairman Ratan Tata and brother-in-law of Mistry, with his mother Simone Tata backed the resolution for removal, according to the report. Jimmy Tata, brother of Ratan and certain other family members with small shareholdings abstained from voting. Three Tata companies, Tata Industries, Tata International and Tata Investment Corporation could not vote as the law does not permit subsidiaries to participate in any resolution concerning their parent.