Mehli Mistry on board of 3 Tata Trusts

Separately, Tata Trusts Chief Executive Officer N. Srinath has resigned, after retiring 30 months after taking office, the person said, requesting anonymity. The board of Tata Trusts approved both the decisions in a special meeting on Saturday. Candidates are being evaluated to replace Srinath, but no clear contender has emerged so far, the executive said.

The induction of Mehli Mistry, the late Cyrus Mistry’s first cousin, on the boards of Sir Ratan Tata Trusts and Allied Trusts and Sir Dorabji Tata Trusts and Allied Trusts shows how Ratan Tata, 84, is handing over the keys to the country’s biggest philanthropist. Associate with responsibilities for managing affairs in institutions.

Besides Noel Tata, Ratan Tata’s half-brother, Pune-based philanthropist Jehangir HC Jehangir, former Citibank executive Prameet Jhaveri, Mistry and industrialist Venu Srinivasan are among the trustees who are in their sixties. Ratan Tata and group stalwarts such as RK Krishnakumar and retired bureaucrat Vijay Singh, are in their late seventies and eighties.

An email query sent to a spokesperson of Tata Trusts on Sunday evening did not elicit any response till press time.

Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata group, passed a special resolution in August with the support of the trusts, stipulating that the chairman of Tata Sons and Tata Trusts would not be the same person. Due to Tata Trusts’ 66% stake in the company, the special resolution passed without any trouble. Thus, the last Tata Trusts chairman to chair Tata Sons will be Ratan Tata. It was done to ensure an arms-length relationship and professionalism when India’s largest conglomerate made business decisions. The participation of the Trusts shall be minimum to the extent of three nominee directors present on the Board of Tata Sons.

Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust hold 27.97% and 23.54% stake in Tata Sons respectively, with smaller affiliated trusts holding 14.32%.

The Board of the Tata Trusts, which included Chairman Tata, Singh, Srinivasan, Jhaveri and Jehangir, approved both decisions at the Tata Trust’s registered office at the World Trade Center in Cuffe Parade, Mumbai. According to the executive cited above, Noel Tata and Krishnakumar could not attend the meeting as they were travelling.

“Mr. Tata is my mentor. I will do whatever he wants from me. I have to protect his interests at all times,” Mehli Mistry told Mint. Mistry was named a trustee of Tata Medical Center in 2014, which runs a cancer care hospital and research center in Kolkata.

Mistry’s induction comes eight months after Noel Tata joined the board of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust in February. Noel was inducted into the board of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust in 2019, and at the time of the appointment, people close to the trust said it was part of a succession plan.

Apart from Sir Dorab Tata Trusts and Sir Ratan Tata Trusts, Mehli was also included on the board of Tata Education and Development Trusts, another major trust of the group.

Mehli Mistry is the first cousin of the late Cyrus Mistry, with whom he had a bad relationship that deteriorated after Cyrus’s collapse with Ratan Tata and the Tata Group in 2016. This resulted in the ouster of Cyrus as chairman of Tata Sons and its group firms. Mehli stood firmly behind Tata and the Tata group at that time. At the peak of the battle, Mehli spent 200 crore to buy 25 million shares in Tata Power, a move that was then interpreted as a sign of his solidarity with Ratan Tata. He later sold the shares.

Cyrus and Mehli’s mothers are sisters. In the early days of World War II, Mehli’s mother was born in England, where her maternal grandfather lived at the time. Cyrus’ mother was born in Ireland, where the family took refuge. Thus, Mehly holds a British passport, while Cyrus had an Irish passport. They also share a paternalistic relationship.

His father was a first cousin, whose grandfather started the Littlewood Pallonji in 1865 by building a footpath in Girgaum, Mumbai. The company later built several historic buildings in Mumbai.

In the Cyrus Mistry vs Tata Group fight, Mehli Mistry was caught in the crossfire. Amid several allegations leveled against Tata Power and Mehli, Cyrus said Mehli’s firm won shipping and dredging contracts without following the proper tender process. He (Cyrus) also questioned an apartment in Bhaktavar in Colaba which was given to Ratan Tata by Forbes Gokak, which was then a Tata group company. Cyrus also alleged that Mehli transferred non-agricultural land in Alibaug, a sea resort near Mumbai, to Ratan Tata.

In its judgment, the top court cleared all charges against Tata, Mehli and the Tata Group, saying that there was no evidence that Tata received money at the expense of Gokak and that the Bhaktavar deal took place in 2002, but the allegation were installed in 2016. ,