Tenures of Tata Trusts vice chairmen extended

The Tata Trusts is understood to have extended the tenures of Vijay Singh and Venu Srinivasan as vice chairmen in recent weeks, top officials close to the development said.

Former defence secretary Singh and TVS Group chairman Srinivasan had been appointed vice chairmen in 2018 as part of the trusts' corporate governance and succession planning exercise. The Tata Trusts did not comment.

Singh and Srinivasan are confidants of Tata Trusts chairman Ratan Tata and have been guiding the CEO of the trusts in operational roles, said people with knowledge of the matter. Srinivasan and Singh, who were trustees earlier, are also the representatives of the Tata Trusts on the board of the group's holding company, Tata Sons.

The trusts include the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, Sir Ratan Tata Trust, JRD Tata Trust, RD Tata Trust, Tata Education Trust, Tata Social Welfare Trust and Sarvajanik Seva Trust.

Sakate Khaitan, senior partner of law firm Khaitan Legal Associates, said the tenure of trustees of public charitable trusts is governed by the trust deed. This means Singh and Srinivasan can be reappointed as long as the trust deed allows.

Siddharth Sharma and Aparna Uppaluri were appointed CEO and COO of the Tata Trusts, respectively, on January 31.

Srinath Narasimhan had been appointed as the first chief executive of the Tata Trusts in February 2020, signalling a shift to a more professional operational structure.

The post had previously been handled by a managing trustee.

Narasimhan stepped down from the post after his retirement in October 2022.

"When the trustees/management of a trust changes, there could be a possibility of change in the historical values and objectives of the trust and the implementation thereof, which may not be beneficial to the trust, especially large trusts like Tata Trusts having such long and celebrated legacy," said Tushar Ajinkya, managing partner of law firm ThinkLaw.