CHENNAI: The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Friday quashed a set of three petitions filed by Tata Sons’ erstwhile chairman Cyrus Mistry against the shareholders’ meeting called by the Tata Sons board on February 6, whose agenda is to discuss Mistry’s removal from the Tata Sons board.
All through the boardroom battle triggered by his ouster from the chairmanship of the group in October last year, Mistry had held his place on the holding company’s (Tata Sons) board — even as a series of extraordinary general meetings (EGMs) called by other group firms steadily stripped him of his other posts in the group.
On Friday, however, the NCLAT quashed all three petitions Mistry had filed, including the main petition to stay the proposed meeting of shareholders.
“We are not going to grant any relief. We are dismissing the three appeals. We would pass a detailed order later,” said a bench headed by judge S J Mukhopadhyay.
The lack of immediate relief has marred Mistry’s chances of preserving his place on the board. “It has narrowed the options that he (Mistry) has to keep himself in the fight while still maintaining his place on the board,” said a member on a Tata group firm board. Mistry’s approach to the NCLAT had followed the National Company Law Tribunal’s refusal to hear petitions to stop the meeting.
Following that, Mistry’s lawyers had approached the NCLAT on Tuesday with three petitions — to challenge Mistry’s ouster as chairman, to get a stay order on Tata Sons February 6 EGM, and to seek a waiver of Section 244 of the Companies Act, under which only those who own more than 10 per cent stake can appeal at NCLT.
The two companies that approached the NCLAT on Mistry’s behalf — Cyrus Investments Pvt Ltd and Sterling Investments Pvt Ltd — said the matter needed urgent intervention as the NCLT was not ready to hear the issue on January 31 of the EGM.
However, with the NCLAT quashing all three petitions, the way is clear for Tata Sons to go ahead with the shareholders meeting on February 6, according to sources. Mistry was removed as chairman of Tata Sons on October 24, 2016 and had then embarked on a hard-fought battle to hold on to control of the group’s listed firms. But, he resigned from all their boards after being removed from the board of Tata Consultancy Services by shareholders.