Mistry camp to NCLT: Not seeking his reinstatement

MUMBAI: Hearings began afresh in the Tata Sons saga in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Mumbai, where minority shareholders linked to Cyrus Mistry sought the appointment of a nominee director to the conglomerate’s parent board from the Shapoorji Pallonji group without seeking Mistry’s reinstatement.

The Mistry camp sought to establish that Tata Sons’ articles of association are oppressive and used by majority shareholders to run the company by clipping powers of independent directors.

Three months ago, an appellate tribunal remanded a complaint of oppression and mismanagement filed by two Mistry family-run companies against Tata Sons to the Mumbai tribunal for a hearing based on merit. The NCLT bench headed by B S V Prakash Kumar had earlier held that the Mistry firms were not qualified under the Companies Act to petition it and had declined to hear their complaint.

The appellate tribunal in Delhi, however, while upholding Tata Sons’ plea on maintainability, had granted the minority shareholders a waiver. The matter thus landed back in Mumbai where the hearing began in earnest on Wednesday.

Senior counsel C A Sundaram, appearing for the shareholders linked to Mistry, essentially targeted four articles of association of the $103-billion conglomerate as being “tools of oppression”. His arguments will continue on Thursday.