Mehli Mistry to exit Tata Trusts as 3 trustees vote against reappointment

The fate of Mehli Mistry, 65, appears sealed after a majority of trustees voted against his reappointment to the boards of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust. With three out of six trustees opposing his renomination through a circular resolution circulated last week, Mistry is set to step down from the Tata Trusts board.

According to people familiar with the matter, the three trustees — Chairman Noel Tata, Venu Srinivasan, chairman of TVS Group, and former defence secretary Vijay Singh — opposed his renewal.

At the Dorabji Tata Trust, Darius Khambata and Prameet Jhaveri supported Mistry’s continuation, while at the Ratan Tata Trust, Khambata and Jehangir H Jehangir voted in his favour.

Long-time associate of Ratan Tata

Mistry, who joined both Tata Trusts in 2022, was a close associate of the late Ratan Tata. The two core trusts together hold a 51 per cent stake in Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata Group, and have veto powers and the right to nominate one-third of the Tata Sons board.

Differences among trustees are believed to have widened after the Mistry camp voted against Vijay Singh’s reappointment as a Tata Sons nominee director — a move that reportedly divided the board.

Tata Trusts did not respond to Business Standard’s queries.

Connection with the SP Group

Mehli Mistry is related to the Shapoorji Pallonji (SP) family, which has been in a long-running corporate battle with the Tata Group following the 2016 ouster of Cyrus Mistry as Tata Sons chairman. Though related, Mehli Mistry’s relationship with the SP Group is understood to remain distant and strained.

Trustees divided over ‘life trusteeship’

Interestingly, Venu Srinivasan secured unanimous approval for his own reappointment as trustee. While Mistry approved Srinivasan’s tenure, he added a caveat that renewals should be reciprocal for all trustees.

The Mistry camp maintains that renewal is automatic and that a trustee becomes a life trustee after one term renewal. The opposing group, led by Noel Tata, holds a contrary interpretation, sources said.

Following Ratan Tata’s passing last year, the Trusts passed a resolution that every trustee would become a life trustee upon renewal. However, lawyers advising the Trusts are divided over the interpretation of the resolution and whether it confers automatic lifetime status.