Tension persists at Tata Trusts

DESPITE THE EXIT of Mehli Mistry from Tata Trusts, there is still pain and rancour within the organisation over the manner in which a group of trustees led by Mistry blocked the nomination of Vijay Singh to the board of Tata Sons at the September 11 meeting.

- GEORGE MATHEW

Tata Sons is the principal investment holding company and promoter of Tata companies.

Responding to a recent letter from Darius Khambata, who is a senior lawyer and trustee on the boards of Sir Ratan Tata Trust and Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, a senior Tata group director said the September 11 meeting was “botched” and triggered a series of developments that went against the Trusts’ interests.

“I don’t know if there was a coup or not, but whatever happened was certainly botched. It resulted in the loss of a Trusts seat on the Tata Sons board, the attention of the Government of India, and a great deal of unwelcome publicity,” the Tata group director said in a written response.