NCLT dismisses Mistry firms’ contempt plea against Tata Sons
18 Jan 2017
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has dismissed a contempt of court petition filed by the family firms of ousted Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry against Tata Sons Ltd holding that there was no contempt action by Tata Sons.
Instead, the tribunal asked the Mistry family firms to file an affidavit in support of an earlier petition they had filed alleging mismanagement and oppression by Tata Sons.
NCLT also asked the Cyrus Mistry family firms to file an affidavit in support of an earlier petition filed by them alleging oppression by Tata Sons.
Hearing of the first petition is scheduled for 31 January, ahead of the 6 February date decided by Tata Sons to hold a shareholders' meeting to oust Mistry from its board.
The tribunal told the Mistry family firms about their concerns over the Tata Sons shareholder meeting and club it with the first petition.
The contempt petition, filed by Cyrus Investments Pvt. Ltd and Sterling Investments Pvt. Ltd, sought to restrain Tata Sons from going ahead with a 6 February extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to eject Mistry. Mistry was ousted as chairman of Tata Sons on 24 October. On 12 January, Tata Sons named Tata Consultancy Services CEO N. Chandrasekaran as its new chairman.
According to the contempt petition filed by Mistry family firms, the EGM called by Tata Sons violated the undertaking given by its lawyers when the NCLT heard an earlier petition filed by the investment firms on 22 December.
The two Mistry family firms had approached the NCLT against Tata Sons and Tata trustees on 20 December alleging mismanagement and oppression of minority shareholders.
