Tata Sons Moves Supreme Court Over Cyrus Mistry’s Reinstatement

The company has sought early interim relief ahead of the board meeting which is likely to be held on January 9.

Image: AFP

New Delhi: The Tata Sons Limited on Thursday approached the Supreme Court against the order of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) which reinstated Cyrus Mistry as executive chairman of the company. The company has sought early interim relief ahead of the board meeting which is likely to be held on January 9. The matter has not yet been fixed for hearing and will only come up after the apex court opens on January 6 after the winter break. On December 18, the NCLAT had restored Cyrus Mistry as the Executive Chairman of the Tata Group and held that the appointment of N Chandrasekaran was illegal. The tribunal, however, clarified the restoration order will be operational only after four weeks, thus allotting time to Tatas to file an appeal. The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had dismissed the petitions filed by the two investment firms - Cyrus Investments Private Ltd and Sterling Investments Corporation - challenging Mistry's removal. Later, Mistry had also personally approached the NCLAT over the NCLT order. Mistry, who was the sixth chairman of Tata Sons, was ousted from the position in October 2016. He had taken over as the chairman in December 2012 after Ratan Tata announced his retirement. The Mistry camp had challenged the July 9 order of the Mumbai bench of the NCLT which dismissed the pleas against his removal as Tata Sons chairman, as also the allegations of rampant misconduct on part of Ratan Tata and the company's board. Mistry in his pleas primarily argued that his removal was not in accordance with the Companies Act and that there was rampant mismanagement of affairs across Tata Sons.