NCLA restores Cyrus Mistry as Tata Group Chairman

NEW DELHI: The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Wednesday restored Cyrus P. Mistry as executive chairman of Tata Group.

The tribunal also ruled that appointment of N Chandrasekaran as executive chairman illegal.

A two-member NCLAT bench headed by Chairperson Justice S J Mukhopadhaya has given a window of four weeks to the Tata Sons to file an appeal against the order before the Supreme Court.

The bench further said that the NCLT Mumbai bench’s order dismissing Mistry’s charges against the group over his ouster was avoidable.

As the news came before the closing bell, shares of Tata Motors quoting at Rs 174.90, down Rs 5.30, or 2.94 percent on the BSE.

The company had in 2017 decided to convert into a private company whereby the shareholders would not be able to trade their shares, which was vehemently opposed by Mistry and his family who have 18.4 per cent stake in Tata Sons.

A private limited company is a business entity that is held by private owners. This type of entity limits the owner’s liability to their ownership stake, and restricts shareholders from publicly trading shares.

Mistry, the Irish-born business magnate, was ousted as the Chairman of Tata Sons on October 24, 2016 in one of the most closely followed corporate wars in recent times.

Of the six chairmen that Tata group has had in its 148 years, Mistry had the shortest stint of them all.

Mistry held the office for a little less than four years until he was removed from the century old multinational company.

The Company had begun its operations in 1868. The longest serving Chairman was Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy who held control of the group for 53 years until 1991.