Anticipating legal trouble, Tata Sons enlist Harish Salve, Abhishek Manu Singhvi's professional help

NEW DELHI: Tata Sons has enlisted the professional services of senior advocates Harish N Salve and Abhishek Manu Singhvi anticipating legal trouble over the sudden ouster of Cyrus Mistry as chairman, sources here said on Monday, on the condition of anonymity.

“The Tatas are anticipating legal trouble,” the source said. They have consulted both Salve and Singhvi, he said. As routinely done, the Tatas also sought legal opinion from the top-most legal brains before moving to remove him as chairman.

As part of its due diligence, the group held legal consultations with former Supreme Court judge R.V. Raveendran, and senior advocates P. Chidambaram and Mohan Parasaran, sources said.

It is usual for high-profile companies to get legal advice on all such contentious matters to pre-empt any legal hitches at the initial stages, sources said.

Also Read: Big shakeup! Cyrus Mistry removed as Tata Sons chairman, Ratan Tata steps in

The company was also consulting other senior advocates also to fight its case in any litigation which may ensue in the wake of the removal.

Corporate lawyers said that a chairman could legally be removed by a board of directors.

Also Read: Dalal Street reacts with shock and disbelief to Cyrus Mistry replacement

But the final word may not have been said on the issue given that business conglomerate Shapoorji Pallonji, owned by Mistry’s reclusive father, is the largest shareholder of Tata Sons.

Mistry had been named chairman on the basis of the recommendation of the largest shareholder. The group has already expressed its unhappiness over the sudden ouster.

Also Read: Shapoorji and Pallonji Group to contest Cyrus Mistry's ouster from Tata Sons

Mistry is married to the daughter of a leading member of the Bombay High Court bar, senior advocate Iqbal Chagla, son of legal doyen M.C. Chagla. Mistry’s brother is also married into a lawyer’s family.

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