Tata Sons’ former Chairman Mistry voted off the Board

Reuters: Shareholders at Tata Sons Ltd, the Indian conglomerate’s holding company, have voted to remove estranged former chairman Cyrus Mistry as a director.

Although Mistry’s family has an 18.4% stake in Tata Sons, its single-largest shareholder, the majority holding is controlled by a group of trusts chaired by Tata family patriarch Ratan Tata.

“The shareholders of Tata Sons Ltd, at the extraordinary general meeting held today, passed, with the requisite majority, a resolution to remove Mr. Cyrus P. Mistry as a director of Tata Sons,” the company said in a statement on Monday.

In December Mistry resigned as director of all publicly-traded companies of Tata group, and launched legal proceedings against the conglomerate.

He has contested his removal as chairman in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), a quasi-judicial body that deals with corporate grievances in India.

Meanwhile Tata Sons last month named veteran insider Natarajan Chandrasekaran as its new chairman.

Mistry had accused Ratan Tata and his associates in Tata Trusts of interference in the running of the various companies of the Tata group. Tata Sons, on the other hand, has accused Mistry of failing to turn round the ailing companies in the group after almost four years in charge.

A legal battle between the two sides is continuing with a court hearing scheduled for later this month.