Tata vs Cyrus: SC To Hear Review Petition by Cyrus Investments in Open Court

In March 2021, a bench headed by then Chief Justice SA Bobde dismissed the appeals filed by Cyrus Mistry

Cyrus Mistry (Left) and Ratan Tata.

(Photo Courtesy: BloombergQuint)

The Supreme Court has agreed to conduct an open court hearing on a review petition filed by Cyrus Investments against its verdict, accepting all contentions of the Tata conglomerate and setting aside the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) order, which restored Cyrus Mistry as the Executive Chairman of the Tata conglomerate.

In March last year, a bench headed by then Chief Justice SA Bobde said all questions of law are in favour of Tata Group and dismissed the appeals filed by Mistry. The top court also upheld the Tata Sons decision to sack Cyrus Mistry on 24 October 2016.

A bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana and comprising Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian considered the review petition filed by Mistry. Justice Ramasubramanian dissented.

The top court, in its 15 February order, said: "Applications seeking exemption from filing affidavits are allowed. Applications seeking oral hearing of the Review Petitions are allowed. List the Review Petitions on Wednesday, 9 March, 2022."

Justice Ramasubramanian, in his dissenting opinion, said:

"With utmost respect, I regret my inability to agree with the order. I have carefully gone through the Review Petitions and I do not find any valid ground to review the judgment. The grounds raised in the Review Petitions do not fall within the parameters of a review and hence the applications seeking oral hearing deserve to be dismissed."

‘Law in Favour of Tata Group’: SC Verdict 

In the verdict passed on 26 March last year, the top court said: "We find all the questions of law are liable to be answered in favour of the appellants (Tata Group) and the appeals filed by the Tata Group are liable to be allowed and Shapoorji Pallonji group is liable to be dismissed."

It also said the value of SP Group shares will depend on the valuation by Tata Sons equities and the court will not determine the fair value.

In December 2019, the NCLAT had ruled that the proceedings of the board meeting of Tata Sons held on 24 October 2016 removing Cyrus Mistry as chairperson was illegal.