Tata Sons shareholders vote to remove Mistry as director

Cyrus Mistry, former chairman of the Tata Group, has been officially removed from the board of the group holding company Tata Sons after shareholders voted on a resolution to that effect at an extraordinary general body meeting of the company today.

''The shareholders of Tata Sons Limited, 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 Limited,'' Tata Sons stated in a release soon after the EGM was over.

The meeting, held at Bombay House, the headquarters of the $103-billion group, was attended by Tata Sons interim chairman Ratan Tata, N Chadrasekaran, who will take over as Tata Sons chairman on 21 February and other Tata Sons directors, including Ajay Piramal.

The exit of Mistry from the board was a foregone conclusion as the Tata Trusts hold 66 per cent stake in the company while the Tata group companies hold another 14 per cent stake. The Mistry family holds 18.5 per cent stake in the company.

Mistry was ousted as chairman of the group on 24 October 2016, following difference of opinions with group patriarch Ratan Tata.

Meanwhile, Mistry later moved the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), which did not grant any interim relief to him. The next hearing is scheduled on 13 February in Mumbai.

Mistry joined the board of Tata Sons two years after his father Pallonji Mistry retired as a director on Tata Sons' board, although the family did not have nomination rights on the board.

The Mistry family had first acquired shares in Tata Sons in 1965 and Mistry's father, Pallonji Mistry was first appointed as a Tata Sons director in 1980 and retired in 2004.