Weeks after the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) reinstated Cyrus Mistry as the Executive Chairman of Tata Sons, the company has now moved Supreme Court against the NCLAT order.
According to reports, Tata Sons challenged the order reinstating Mistry as Chairperson of Tata Sons, and has also challenged his reinstatement as Director on the Board of Tata companies and the declaration of N Chandrasekhar’s appointment as illegal. It also reportedly challenged the judgement of the NCLAT where it deemed the conversion of Tata Sons from public to private company to be illegal.
NCLAT had passed its order on December 18, and said that the restoration order will be operational only after four weeks, which is the time granted to Tatas to file an appeal.
This was after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) dismissed petitions filed by Cyrus Investments Pvt Ltd and Sterling Investments Corp challenging Mistry's removal. The two firms were investment firms run by the family of Cyrus Mistry. Following this, Mistry approached NCLAT against the NCLT order.
In the same order, NCLAT had also quashed the conversion of Tata Sons -- the principal holding company and promoter of Tata firms -- into a private company from a public firm and had termed it as "illegal".
"The Company (Tata Sons) shall be recorded as 'Public Company'. The RoC will make corrections in its record showing the company as 'Public Company'," said NCLAT.
The Registrar of Companies under the Corporate Affairs Ministry then moved NCLAT seeking modification in its order.
It said stated that its decision on conversion following Cyrus Mistry's exit was not done in a hurry and was done after proper scrutiny and due diligence.
In October 2016, Mistry was ousted as the chairman of Tata Sons. Mistry was appointed as the chairman in 2012 after Ratan Tata announced in retirement. He was the sixth chairman of the massive conglomerate. After his ousting, N Chandrasekhar, who was then the CEO of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) was appointed as the executive chairman of the group.
Mistry challenged his ouster, which led to a bitter battle between Ratan Tata, the company’s board, and those in support of Cyrus Mistry. Mistry also accused the Tata Group of not following due process and alleged inappropriate interference in the company’s affairs by former chairman, Ratan Tata.