Both Tata Sons and Mistry had challenged a December 18, 2019 order of National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) which had ordered the reinstatement of Mistry as Chairperson of Tata Sons Limited.
The Supreme Court had on January 10, 2020 stayed the NCLAT order.
The NCLAT, in its December 2019 judgment, had held that the proceedings of the Board meeting of Tata Sons held on October 24, 2016 removing Cyrus Mistry as Chairperson were illegal. It had also directed that Ratan Tata should not take any decision in advance which requires a majority decision of the Board of Directors of Tata Sons or a majority in the Annual General Meeting.
Mistry took over as Chairman of Tata Sons in December 2012 and was removed from the post on October 24, 2016 by the majority of the Board of Directors of the company. Subsequently, at an Extraordinary General Meeting convened on February 6, 2017, the shareholders voted for the removal of Mistry from the board of Tata Sons. Subsequently, N Chandrasekaran took over as Executive Chairman of Tata Sons.
Two Shapoorji Pallonji firms, who are shareholders in Tata Sons, moved National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) over Mistry’s removal alleging “oppression” of minority shareholders and “mismanagement”.
In July 2018, NCLT dismissed the petition against which an appeal was filed by Pallonji firms before the NCLAT. The NCLAT proceeded to overturn the NCLT order, prompting the current appeals before the Supreme Court.
Source: Barandbench
