SC Stays NCLAT Order Restoring Mistry as Tata Group Exec Chairman

On 5 January, Cyrus Mistry had said he is not interested in getting back to the Tata Group in any capacity at all.

The Supreme Court on Friday, 10 January, stayed the NCLAT order restoring Cyrus Mistry as the executive chairperson of the Tata Group.

The court said that it is looking at the judicial attitude with which NCLAT made the 18 December order and "find that it is sorely lacking".

A bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant agreed to hear Tata Sons' plea challenging the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) decision and issued notices to Mistry and others.

Tata Sons Private Ltd (TSPL) challenged the 18 December decision of NCLAT that gave a big relief to Cyrus Investment Pvt Ltd and Mistry, restoring him as the executive chairperson of TSPL.

NCLAT had also ruled that the appointment of N Chandrasekaran as head of the holding company of the $110-billion salt-to-software conglomerate was illegal.

However, on 5 January, Mistry had said he was not interested in getting back to the Tata Group in any capacity at all.

Mistry, a scion of the wealthy Shapoorji Pallonji family, was removed as chairperson of Tata Sons in October 2016. He was the sixth chairperson of Tata Sons and had taken over in 2012 after Ratan Tata. He was later also removed as director on the board of Tata Sons.

Mistry and Tata family patriarch Ratan Tata reportedly fell out over key investment decisions, including manufacturing of the world's cheapest car, the Nano.