Interim Tata Sons Chairperson Ratan Tata had personally asked Cyrus Mistry to resign as the head of the conglomerate before his ouster from the post on October 24, 2016, according to an affidavit filed by the holding company at the National Company Law Tribunal. Tata Sons filed a 204-page affidavit at the Mumbai court on Monday in response to a suit filed by two investment firms controlled by Mistry and his family, PTI reported.
Mistry was removed from the top position after there were “little to no signs of improvement” in the company under his leadership, Tata Sons said in the document, adding that the decision “was the result of a chain of events that led to a growing trust and confidence deficit that had to be addressed without delay”.
The conglomerate also accused Mistry of reducing the representation of Tata Sons’ directors on the boards of Tata companies in a “systemic and planned manner”, according to PTI. “This systematic dilution weakened the bind through which Tata values, ethos, governance principles, group strategies were to be implemented across the Tata Group companies.”
The affidavit further claims that differences between Mistry and Ratan Tata have been brewing since 2013. It refutes allegations of mismanagement and oppression of minority shareholders, as well, according to The Economic Times.
On December 22, the tribunal had directed Mistry to submit documented proof to support the claims made in the petition, after which the ousted chairperson filed an affidavit with evidence to prove Ratan Tata’s interference in Tata Group companies during his tenure.
Mistry had stepped down from all Tata Group companies on December 19, saying it was time to be “more incisive in securing the best interest of the Tata Group”. In his resignation letter, he had alleged that Ratan Tata had staged “an illegal coup” on October 24, the day he was sacked from his post in the holding company. Tata Sons has accused Cyrus Mistry of misleading the 2011 selection committee set up to appoint Ratan Tata’s successor.
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