NCLT Rejects Mistry’s Plea To Transfer Petition Against Tata Sons
Cyrus Mistry will have to argue his case against Tata Sons in the Mumbai bench of NCLT.
The National Company Law Tribunal rejected a petition filed by Cyrus Mistry to transfer his ongoing oppression and mismanagement case against Tata Sons Ltd. to another bench.
The NCLT also imposed Rs 10 lakh costs on the Mistry firms. They wanted the original petition moved to the Delhi bench from Mumbai after the National Consumer Law Appellate Tribunal on September 21 granted a waiver from the 10 percent shareholding requirement to bring the charges. The appellate tribunal sent the case back to the NCLT.
Senior Advocate Aryama Sundaram, representing the ousted Tata Sons chairman, argued that the Mumbai bench of the NCLT had already gone into the merits of the case while deciding that the two family firms – Cyrus Investments Pvt. Ltd. and Sterling Investments Corporation Pvt. Ltd. – didn’t have the required shareholding to bring charges and while denying a waiver. He said the Mistry firms were not making any allegations of personal bias against the Mumbai bench.
Tata Sons counsel sought that the plea should be rejected outright while accusing the Mistry side of indulging in forum shopping.
The litigation began after Mistry moved the NCLT in December, nearly two months after he was removed as chairman of Tata Sons. He was later removed as director of Tata Group’s holding company.