New Delhi, Oct 28 (UNI) A majority of trustees voted against the reappointment of Mehli Mistry to the boards of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust. With three out of six trustees opposing his renomination through a circular resolution last week, Mistry is set to step down from the Tata Trusts board.
The 65-year-old Mistry joined both Tata Trusts in 2022, and was a close associate of the late Ratan Tata. Mistry’s three-year term is set to expire today. The two core trusts together hold a 51% stake in Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata Group, and have veto powers and the right to nominate one-third of the Tata Sons board.
As per the reports, the three trustees namely Chairman Noel Tata, Venu Srinivasan, chairman of TVS Group, and former Defence Secretary Vijay Singh opposed his renewal.
On the other hand, Darius Khambata and Prameet Jhaveri supported Mistry’s continuation, while at the Ratan Tata Trust, Khambata and Jehangir H Jehangir voted in his favour. The four had expressed unhappiness over what they saw as a lack of transparency in Tata Sons’ board decisions, leading to Singh’s ouster.
The opposition to Mistry is likely to present immediate challenges for Noel Tata, who took charge as chairman of Tata Trusts.
Earlier this week, Tata Trusts unanimously reappointed Venu Srinivasan as a lifetime trustee, with the backing of Mehli Mistry. Mistry, along with trustees Pramit Jhaveri, Jehangir H.C. Jehangir, and Darius Khambata, supported Srinivasan’s reappointment as a trustee of Tata Trusts.
