NEW DELHI: Tata Sons today moved the Supreme Court challenging the 18 December decision of the NCLAT restoring Cyrus Mistry as the executive chairman of the group.
The Tata Group sought stay of the verdict by which the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) ruled as ‘illegal’ the appointment of N Chandrasekaran as head of the holding company of over $110 billion salt-to-software conglomerate.
“We have challenged the NCLAT decision in its entirety,” a lawyer associated with the matter said.
The petition has sought a direction from the apex court to set aside or quash the findings of the tribunal which held that the group’s chairman emeritus Ratan Tata’s actions against Mistry were oppressive.
The NCLAT had stayed the operation of the judgement with respect to reinstatement of Mistry for four weeks to allow the Tatas to appeal.
The NCLAT had also quashed the conversion of Tata Sons into a private company from a public firm. It also directed Tata Sons not to take any action against Mistry, whose family owns some 18 per cent interest in Tata Sons.
The remaining 81 per cent is held by Tata Trusts and Tata Group companies along with Tata family members.
Mistry, scion of the wealthy Shapoorji Pallonji family, had in December 2012 succeeded Ratan Tata as the Executive Chairman of Tata Sons, a post that also made him the head of all Tata group listed firms such as Tata Power and Tata Motors.
In an overnight coup, he was removed as the chairman of Tata Sons in October 2016. Along with him, the entire senior management too was purged and Ratan Tata was back at the helms of affairs four years after he took retirement.
Mistry challenged the removal before the Mumbai bench of National Company Law Tribunal but lost and then went in for appeal at the NCLAT.