Crucial Tata Trusts meetings, scheduled for today, postponed to May 16

The crucial Tata Trust meetings, scheduled for May 8, have reportedly been postponed to May 16. The meetings were likely to shed light on the future direction of India’s biggest business conglomerate.

According to a report in The Economic Times, the meetings have been delayed amid major legal challenges. The immediate trigger was the Bombay High Court’s refusal to halt the meetings after a plea sought an injunction against the May 8 board meeting of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust.

One of the key issues, as per the report, that was likely to be taken up today was the possible induction of former Titan Company managing director Bhaskar Bhat into the Tata Sons board. The role of Venu Srinivasan as a Tata Trusts nominee director on the Tata Sons board was also likely to be revisited, it said. 

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THE INJUNCTION PLEA

Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court refused the urgent hearing on a plea seeking an injunction against the May 8 board meeting of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust. The petitioner had alleged that the trust was acting in violation of the law. The plea also sought to restrain the trustees from passing or implementing any decision related to the proposed meeting scheduled for Friday.

The court declined the urgent hearing and said the petitioner was free to approach the vacation bench. The high court will be closed for summer vacation starting Saturday.

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The petition was filed by 61-year-old Thane resident Suresh Patilkhede, who sought directions to reconstitute the trust's board. He alleged that the public charitable trust was violating a 2025 amendment to the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act, which limits the number of life trustees. According to the amendment, if a trust's original documents do not specifically allow permanent or life trustees, such trustees cannot exceed one-fourth of the total board members.

The plea stated that under the trust's practice, three perpetual trustees, also called life trustees, were appointed between 1989 and 2019 out of six trustees. The petition named the current trustees as Jimmy Naval Tata, Jehangir H C Jehangir, Noel Naval Tata, Venu Srinivasan, Vijay Singh, and senior advocate Darius Khambata. It claimed that three of these continue as life trustees, which violates the statutory limit.

The plea further argued that the proposed meeting was unlawful as the trust's instrument does not provide for life trustees. Quoting Section 30A(2) of the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act, it said the number of life trustees cannot exceed one-fourth of the total trustees at any time.