Former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry was voted out as director in Tata Consultancy Services. He had skipped TCS’ Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), even as shareholders cast votes to remove him from the post.
Last month, he was removed as TCS chairman.
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Holders of 86.71 per cent share of the company voted. Of this, about 93.11 per cent voted in favour of the resolution to remove Mr. Mistry. The total number of votes for the resolution stood at 2,450, while those against numbered 1,222.
Tata Sons, which holds more than 73 per cent stake in TCS, had moved the resolution to oust Mr. Mistry.
The EGM proceedings were chaired by TCS Independent Director Aman Mehta. Acting chairman Ishaat Hussain had recused himself to avoid conflict of interest as he is a nominee of Tata Sons. Ratan Tata, interim chairman of Tata Sons who is at war with Mr. Mistry, was accompanied by confidant R.K. Krishna Kumar and sat in the front row.
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In a letter, Mr. Mistry had urged shareholders to vote ‘with their conscience.’ He said though “the outcome of this particular meeting is a foregone conclusion,” his fight was a matter of principle.
At the meeting, many shareholders held Mr. Mistry responsible for ‘damaging the reputation of the Tatas.’ Out of 40 speakers, only four spoke in his support.
A shareholder Adil Irani, argued with the chair about not getting a satisfactory reply on Mr. Mistry’s removal.
Mr. Mehta replied: “The real issue here is loss of trust and confidence of the promoter group against the nominated chairman. Once the trust is lost, it is appropriate for the nominated chairman to resign...”
J.N. Gupta, MD, SES, said the shareholders could “expect more fireworks at upcoming EGMs of group companies.”