Mehli Mistry resigns from Tata Trusts, urges Trustees to uphold Ratan Tata’s vision

In the letter, Mistry said it was his privilege to serve as a trustee till October 28, adding that he wished to part ways and put an end to speculative media reports surrounding his position.

In a significant development, Ratan Tata's close associate and businessman Mehli Mistry has written a letter to Tata Trusts Chairman Noel Tata, informing him of his decision to step down as a trustee, according to sources cited by CNBC-TV18.

In a letter addressed to all Trustees of the Tata Trusts, including Chairman Noel Tata, Mehli Mistry formally announced his decision to step down as Trustee, emphasizing the need to protect the institution from controversy and uphold its founding values.

According to sources, Mistry conveyed that his commitment to Ratan N. Tata’s vision includes a duty to ensure that the Tata Trusts are not drawn into disputes that could damage their legacy.

“My commitment to Ratan N Tata's vision includes a responsibility to ensure that the Tata Trusts are not plunged into controversy and that precipitating matters would cause irreparable harm to the reputation of the Tata Trusts,” Mistry wrote in his letter.

“Therefore, in the spirit of Mr Ratan N Tata, who always put public interest before his own, I hope that the actions of the other trustees going forward will be guided by the principles of transparency, good governance, and public interest. I part ways with a quote that Mr. Ratan N. Tata used to say to me, 'Nobody is bigger than the institution it serves’.”

Mistry’s tenure as Trustee formally ended on October 27 this year. While a Board of Trustees resolution passed on October 17, 2024, had proposed his reappointment as a lifetime Trustee, the move did not materialize as three trustees withheld approval for his continuation in the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust.

Before stepping down, Mistry had also filed a preemptive caveat with the Maharashtra Charity Commissioner, seeking a hearing before any changes were made to the list of trustees.

His letter now brings clarity to weeks of speculation, formally marking his exit from the Tata Trusts.

TVS Motor Co's chairman emeritus Venu Srinivasan and former defence secretary Vijay Singh voted against Mistry's reappointment as trustee after the end of his three-year tenure.

The three other trustees -- former Citibank India CEO Pramit Jhaveri, Mumbai lawyer Darius Khambata, and Pune-based philanthropist Jehangir HC Jehangir -- who are considered close to Mistry, supported his reappointment, they said.

Noel Tata and Mehli Mistry are two power centres in the Tata Trusts, which control a majority stake in the holding company of the Tata Group. The former has the backing of Srinivasan and former defence secretary Vijay Singh, while the other three are with Mistry. Differences between the two groups came to the fore in September, when Mistry and three other trustees -- Jhaveri, Khambata and Jehangir -- voted to remove Singh as Tata Trusts' representative on the board of Tata Sons -- the holding company of the salt-to-software conglomerate.

Earlier, Tata Trusts had unanimously reappointed Venu Srinivasan as a trustee for life.

However, sources said Mistry, along with three other trustees -- Jhaveri, Jehangir and Khambata --, while approving Srinivasan's reappointment as trustee and Vice-Chairman of Tata Trusts, had put a condition that all future renewals of trustees be approved unanimously, failing which their approvals would be withdrawn. Opinions in the two camps were divided on whether continuation of a trustee is automatic or requires unanimous approval from the trustees for a lifetime tenure.

While one side maintained that renewal, after which it will be for life, and a fresh appointment requires unanimous approval of trustees as per past practice, the other side insisted that reappointment is automatic, and it is applicable to all the trustees. According to the minutes of the joint meeting of the trustees of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust held on October 17, 2024, it was resolved that on the expiry of the tenure of any trustee, the trustee would be reappointed by the concerned trust without any limit being attached to the period of tenure, a source said.

As per the resolution, any trustee who chose to vote otherwise would be in "breach of their commitment and is not fit and proper to serve on Tata Trusts by such conduct", the person added.

Moreover, the person said if there is any breach of the commitment by a Trustee, it will necessitate the reopening of all resolutions passed by Tata Trusts, "including the appointment of Noel Tata as a director on the Board of Tata Sons, which formed part of the October 17, 2024, Trustees' resolution".

Also, according to the October 17, 2024, resolution, all trustees are appointed on a long-term and life basis, and trusteeship would be revisited upon reaching 75 years of age.

Tata Trusts, the umbrella body overseeing several charitable trusts including the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, holds a 66 per cent stake in Tata Sons - the holding company of the 156-year-old Tata Group, which comprises around 400 companies, including 30 listed entities.

*With Agency Inputs