Tata Vs Mistry: Supreme Court Agrees To Consider Review Petition

The Supreme Court of India on Monday set a date for an oral hearing on the review petitions filed by the Cyrus Mistry group challenging Tata Sons Pvt.'s 2021 win.

"Applications seeking oral hearing of the review petitions are allowed", read the order passed by a three-judge bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Justice AS Bopanna. However, Justice Ramasubramanian dissented, saying there were no grounds in Mistry's plea to review the court's earlier judgment.

In its review petition filed in April last year, the Mistry group had asserted that the Supreme Court incorrectly interpreted company law provisions, diluting corporate governance standards and leaving large swathe of minority shareholders remediless. The Supreme Court ruling laid down contradictory legal propositions that are not only irreconcilable but also contrary to the company law statute, the Shapoorji Pallonji Group's review petition said.

This was against the apex court's judgment which had dismissed all allegations of oppression and mismanagement at Tata Sons. It overturned the verdict by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal that had directed the reinstatement of Mistry, scion of the SP Group, as executive chairman of Tata Sons—a position he was abruptly removed from in October 2016.

The top court had answered all the legal questions in favour of Tata Sons.

The arguments before the top court touched upon the principles of board independence; what would qualify as oppression of minority shareholders; manner of removal of Mistry in 2016 as well as the conversion of Tata Sons from a public limited to a private company.

The review petition will be heard in an open court on March 9.