The board meeting of the Tata Trusts, scheduled for Friday to nominate its director on the Tata Sons board and take a call on the reappointment of group chairman N Chandrasekaran for a third term, is on course to take place as the Bombay High Court has declined urgent listing of a petition that seeks to cancel the board meeting, among other issues.
The petition, filed by one Suresh Tulsiram Patilkhede, a resident of nearby Thane, challenges the validity of the proposed board meeting, alleging violations of the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act by Tata Trusts entities, which between them own 66.4% of the country’s largest corporate group. The legal challenge comes amid wider governance concerns being aired by some trustees, as well as outsiders, across the dozen-odd trusts relating to trustee appointments, board procedures and compliance with the trust deeds.
The high court order comes as a relief to the embattled trusts led by chairman Noel Tata, whose term since October 2024 has been dogged by internal rifts and open revolt by some trustees.
Senior advocate Janak Dwarkadas, appearing for the trusts, told a bench led by Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar that the matter had already been mentioned before another bench on Wednesday and that bench did not find merit in urgent listing.
To this, the chief justice said that once a bench has concluded there is no urgency, the matter cannot be mentioned again before another bench for the same relief, and therefore directed the petitioner to approach the vacation bench if any urgent relief is needed.
Dwarkadas also informed the court that a caveat had already been filed on behalf of the trusts.
The petitioner’s counsel sought liberty from the court to mention the matter before a vacation bench. The court replied that no separate liberty was required.
At the centre of the dispute is a provision in the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act that caps the number of lifetime trustees at 25% of the total board strength. The petition claims the Sir Ratan Tata Trust breaches this threshold as three of its six trustees — Noel Tata, Jimmy Tata and Jehangir C Jehangir — are lifetime trustees.
The dozen-odd Tata Trusts function through several independent charitable entities, each governed by separate boards and rules. However, most trustees of the two main trusts — Sir Ratan Tata Trust and Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, which between them hold as much as 52% of the total 66.4% stake in Tata Sons — are also on the boards of all the smaller trusts.
