NCLAT Seeks Tata Sons’ Reply To Mistry’s Plea
NCLAT has ordered Tata Sons to file their reply by Friday and scheduled the next hearing on August 14.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal sought a reply from Tata Sons by Friday to a petition filed by its ousted chairman Cyrus Mistry challenging the move to convert the holding company of salt-to-software conglomerate to a private firm from a deemed public company.
The tribunal listed the matter for hearing on August 14.
The two-judge NCLAT Bench, headed by Justice SJ Mukhopadhyay, was hearing a petition filed by Cyrus Investments Pvt. Ltd. seeking a stay on the conversion of Tata Sons into a private company as well as challenging a July 9 order of the Mumbai bench of National Company Law Tribunal that had upheld Mistry's sacking.
Shareholders of Tata Sons had voted in favour of turning it into a private limited company last September despite opposition by Mistry's family, which is the single largest shareholder of the holding company.
The counsel appearing for Mistry asked for a stay on the conversion in his interim argument.
Senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Tata Sons, stated that the company had always been a private company for 101 years and was "deemed to be a public company in 1976" as per regulatory requirements.
Mistry in his pleas primarily argued that his removal was not in accordance with the Companies Act and alleged that Tata Trust chairperson Ratan Tata and trustee N Soonawala interfered with the day-to-day operations of the group companies and caused massive revenue loss.