A day after resigning from the boards of six listed Tata firms, Cyrus Mistry on Tuesday took the legal route in his fight against the Tatas by filing a suit in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) against the Tata Sons.
According to sources, Mr. Mistry’s family-controlled investment firms moved the NCLT in Mumbai.
The petition was against oppression and mismanagement of the Tata Sons under Section 241 of the Companies Act, sources said.
The first hearing by the NCLT on the petition is slated for December 22, they said.
While resigning from the boards of the Tata group firms on Monday, Mr. Mistry launched a scathing broadside against Ratan Tata and vowed to shift his fight to a “larger platform.”
“Having deeply reflected on where we are in this movement for cleaning up governance and regaining lost ethical ground, I think it is time to shift gears, up the momentum, and be more incisive in securing the best interests of the Tata Group,” he had said.
He further said that with this thought in mind, he “decided to shift this campaign to a larger platform and also one where rule of law and equity is upheld“.
Mr. Mistry, who had continued to be on boards of operating companies even after his ouster as chairman of the holding company Tata Sons on October 24, had again raked up “breakdown of governance” and questionable dealings including release of more funds to airline venture Air Asia under interim chairman Ratan Tata despite “findings of fraud and wrong-doing.”
His resignation came ahead of five Tata companies — Indian Hotels, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Power and Tata Chemicals — calling extraordinary general meetings starting from Tuesday to oust him as a director on company boards after Ratan Tata, a scion of the conglomerate’s founding family, replaced him as chairman of the group’s holding company.
