Who is Vijay Singh, former defence secretary, who resigned as Tata Sons' Director?

Vijay Singh's resignation has come back into focus as two Cabinet ministers are scheduled to meet key Tata figures in New Delhi.

Vijay Singh, the former Defence Secretary, reportedly resigned as Tata Sons' director last month.

While no official statement was issued, multiple media outlets, including The Economic Times and The Times of India, reported that Singh stepped down on September 11.

A TOI report quoting Singh mentioned that he skipped the board meeting a day later, as he had already resigned, though he visited the office for his usual consultations.

Singh's resignation has come back into focus as two Cabinet ministers are scheduled to meet key Tata figures in New Delhi - Noel Tata (Chairman, Tata Trusts), Venu Srinivasan (Vice-Chairman, Tata Trusts), N Chandrasekaran (Chairman, Tata Sons), and Darius Khambata (Trustee, Tata Trusts).

An ET report on Monday stated that the developments of the September 11 event are expected to be discussed during the meeting. Moneycontrol has not independently verified these developments.

Early Life and Career

Singh took over as Defence Secretary from Shekhar Dutt in 2007. Born on July 13, 1948, he earned a Master's degree in History from Delhi University and joined the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1970, allotted to the Madhya Pradesh cadre.

Between 1971 and 1982, he served in various capacities in Madhya Pradesh, including as District Magistrate of Gwalior and Bhopal. From 1982 to 1987, he worked with the Government of India as Director and Coordinator for the Festival of India in the USA, France, USSR, and Japan.

He returned to Madhya Pradesh between 1987 and 1996, holding positions such as Commissioner of Jabalpur and Indore Divisions and Home Secretary.

From 1996 to 2004, Singh served in the Government of India as Financial Advisor, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and Additional Secretary in the Ministries of Chemicals & Fertilizers and Information & Broadcasting.

He was Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh from October 2004 to January 2006, and later served as Secretary, Department of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy in the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare from February to July 2006.

Prior to becoming Defence Secretary, he was Secretary, Road Transport and Highways in the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport, and Highways.

Tenure at Tata Sons

This was Singh's second tenure with Tata Sons. He first joined the board in June 2013 but stepped down in July 2018 after turning 70, in line with the retirement norms for Tata Trusts' nominee directors at the time.

In February 2022, Singh returned to the board after Ratan Tata introduced a more flexible retirement policy, removing the fixed age limit for nominee directors.

Vijay Singh's exit from Tata Sons' board reportedly came after his reappointment didn't get support from fourt trustees - Mehli Mistry, Pramit Jhaveri, Jehangir Jehangir and Darius Khambata, according to a report in Economic Times.

The reappointment was necessitated as a key resolution passed last year after Noel Tata's appointment as chairman that required nominee directors to be reappointed every year once they turn 75 years of age. According to the same report in ET, the situation escalated when the four trustees tried to nominate Mehli Mistry to the board of Tata Sons which came under opposition from Noel Tata and Venu Srinivasan. These matters need unanimity and any such hostile move is not the Tata way of doing things, the reported cited officials aware of the matter as saying.