Tata Trust saga: Srinivasan permanent trusteeship a formality, say four trustees; want similar renewals for all
Four Tata Trusts trustees have called the lifelong appointment of TVS Motor Company Venu Srinivasan as a trustee a formality. But the approval is conditional on other trustees getting similar extensions when they come up for reappointment. The trusteeship of Mehli Mistry is up for renewal next week.
Bengaluru and Mumbai: Four of the seven trustees of Tata Trusts have termed the appointment of TVS Motor Company chair emeritus Venu Srinivasan as a lifelong trustee a “procedural formality", referring to a unanimous decision granting themselves permanent positions in October last year.
With the approval, the four trustees – former Citibank India CEO Pramit Jhaveri, Mumbai lawyer Darius Khambata, businessman Mehli Mistry, and Pune-based philanthropist and businessman Jehangir HC Jehangir – have also said that all other trustees get similar lifelong trusteeships when their terms come up for reappointment.
The united stand of the four trustees comes at a time when Mistry’s reappointment as a permanent trustee comes up for renewal next week.
Questions over Mistry’s continuance rose after the four trustees rallied over the last year to seek more information from their three colleagues – Tata Trusts chair Noel Tata, former defence secretary Vijay Singh, and Srinivasan – who until 11 September were representatives of Tata Trusts on the six-member board of Tata Sons.
Unhappiness over not sharing information on Tata Sons board decisions led the four trustees to pull Singh from the Tata Sons board. The action exposed divisions within the promoter group of the country’s largest conglomerate, which was first reported by Mint on 24 September.
Noel Tata and Srinivasan remain the Tata Trusts’ representatives on the board of Tata Sons.
“[I]t needs to be noted that the substantive decision regarding the re-appointment of Mr. Venu Srinivasan and all other Trustees was already taken and approved pursuant to the aforesaid resolution of 17 October 2024 by each of the Trustee’s and the resolution proposed in Circular No: 87 dated 18 October 2025 is a formalistic one to give effect to an already taken unanimous decision of the Trustees," Mehli Mistry wrote in response to a circular, dated 18 October, seeking re-appointment of Srinivasan.
“I hereby consent to the re-appointment of Mr. Venu Srinivasan commencing on 24 October 2025, provided that an identical unanimous resolution is passed by the Trustees in respect of all other Trustees, as and when their respective tenures expire, in accordance with the unanimous resolution of 17 October 2024," said Mistry.
“For the avoidance of doubt, should any Trustee elect not to pass this resolution re-appointing Mr. Venu Srinivasan or an identical unanimous resolution for all other Trustees as and when their respective tenures expire, then in such event, I do not provide my formal approval for the re-appointment of Mr. Venu Srinivasan in terms of Circular No 87 dated 18 October 2025. Needless to state, I do not expect such a situation to arise," Mistry said.
Jhaveri, Khambata and Jehangir too stamped their approval on Srinivasan’s continuation on a similar note, saying the reappointment is “automatic" and “in accordance with resolution dated 17 October 2024", according to an executive privy to the developments.
The trustees' acknowledgment that the renewal of Srinivasan's tenure is automatic, and contingent on similar extensions to other trustees, means the decision to reappoint Srinivasan does not indicate an end to the divisions at Tata Trusts.
An email sent to Jhaveri, Khambata, Mistry and Jehangir seeking comment went unanswered.
Lifelong trustees
A joint meeting between the trustees of Sir Ratan Tata Trust and Sir Dorabji Tata Trust on 17 October last year concluded that the trustees would be made permanent. The decision was made less than 10 days after Ratan Tata's demise on 9 October to ensure continuity at Tata Trusts, which had made Noel Tata chairman on 11 October.
“In this moment of transition between two eras, the Trustees of the SDTT and SRTT Trusts pass this resolution to iterate and declare the principles and objects by which they will be governed and guided and the goals that they will aspire to accomplish," the joint meeting concluded, according to documents reviewed by Mint. “The trustees recognise that they are equally responsible, charged with public duty and specifically tasked by Mr Ratan Tata. To this end, they resolve that on the expiry of tenure of any Trustee that Trustee will be reappointed by the concerned Trust without any limit being attached to the period of tenure of such reappointment and in accordance with the law."
Sir Ratan Tata Trusts and Sir Dorabji Tata Trust own 27.98% and 23.56% of Tata Sons, respectively. The smaller trusts hold the remaining 14.38%, giving the Tata Trusts an ownership of 65.9% of Tata Sons.
A trustee failing to secure this procedural vote could expose Tata Trusts to legal battle, according to an executive privy to the development, and could render the other decisions made by the trustees at the 17 October board meeting “infructuous". This includes Tata Trusts’ decision taken on that day to appoint its chairman Noel Tata as their representative on the Tata Sons board, according to the executive cited above.
A top Mumbai lawyer concurred with this assessment. “The response of all four trustees (during the reappointment of Srinivasan) shows that the trustees believe the approval is a mere formality," said senior Supreme Court lawyer H.P. Ranina. “Now, the 17 October decision by Tata Trusts giving lifelong tenures is a binding undertaking by all of them. It's like a settlement. It can only be rescinded if all the trustees unanimously vote on it again."
Legal recourse would be within the rights of a trustee who doesn’t get reappointed, Ranina continued. “Hypothetically, if any trustees fails to get reappointed, then that means the other Trustees have violated the decisions taken on the 17 October 2024 board meeting. That trustee who fails to get reappointed has the right to take legal action against Tata Trusts," he said.
Srinivasan’s reappointment at Tata Trusts also saves the holding company, Tata Sons, from any embarrassment. The articles of association of Tata Sons mandate the holding company to have a minimum of five board members. A failure to re-elect Srinivasan as a Trustee of Tata Trusts would have put his continuation at Tata Sons in doubt. For now, there are six members. Besides chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Noel Tata, and Srinivasan, the Tata Sons board has group CFO Saurabh Agrawal and independent directors Harish Manwani and Anita Marangoly George on it.
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