NEW DELHI, SEP 20: Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, who has been appointed to represent Tata Trusts in the ongoing Tata Sons dispute, said on Sunday that he was entering the matter with “sadness and regret” that the issues could not be resolved amicably.
In a post on X, Singhvi said the rights of shareholder-owners could not be set aside in the manner he alleged they had been, and stressed the importance of established corporate governance principles.
Singhvi said his earlier association with Ratan Tata, along with his personal relationships with key individuals on both sides of the dispute, made the situation particularly unfortunate in his view.
The dispute has emerged over the Tata Sons board’s decision to back a further five-year term for Natarajan Chandrasekaran, a move that has faced opposition from Tata Trusts chairman Noel Tata.
Another point of disagreement concerns the proposed public listing of Tata Sons. The company’s board has supported moving ahead with a listing after the Reserve Bank of India rejected Tata Sons’ application to surrender its registration as an upper-layer non-banking financial company.
Tata Trusts, which collectively hold around 66 per cent of Tata Sons, have opposed the listing, with Noel Tata calling for alternatives to be considered.
Singhvi argued that restricting shareholder rights and preventing Tata Trusts from taking decisions through their internal processes raised legal concerns. He also referred to the long-standing relationship between Tata Trusts and Tata Sons.
The senior advocate cited the Supreme Court’s Tata-Mistry judgment, saying it recognised the role of Tata Trusts in the relationship with Tata Sons and upheld certain special provisions in the company’s Articles.
Singhvi said that in the absence of consensus between the parties, the issues would ultimately have to be resolved through legal processes.
