Tribunal Dismisses Cyrus Mistry’s Contempt Plea Against Tata Sons
Mistry’s petition sought arrests of Tata Trustees and a stay on Tata Sons’ EGM in February.
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has dismissed a contempt petition filed by Cyrus Mistry’s two family firms against Tata Sons.
The petition had contended that Tata Sons’ decision to call an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on February 6 to remove Mistry as a director from its board was willful disobedience of the tribunal’s December 22 order and amounted to contempt.
Judicial member Prakash Kumar, who read out the operative part of the order in a packed courtroom, allowed the Mistry companies to file an affidavit regarding the EGM within three days.
If the Mistry firms do file the affidavit, Tata Sons will have three days to file a rejoinder. The matter will be then be taken up along with the original company petition, which is scheduled for a full-and-final hearing on January 31 and February 1.
The court, while hearing the original company petition filed by the two Mistry companies, had passed a consent order on December 22 binding all parties not to move any interim applications or take any action regarding the subject matter of the petition.
Tata Sons had removed Mistry as its chairman on October 24, 2016, citing loss of trust. A boardroom battle and a bitter public feud followed. Mistry eventually moved the tribunal against his ouster.