Mehli says Tata bye bye a week after his ouster

MUMBAI: Days after filing a caveat before the Maharashtra charity commissioner, seeking a hearing before being ousted as a Tata Trusts trustee, Mehli Mistry said on Tuesday that he wished to "part ways" with the public charities, noting that "precipitating matters would cause irreparable harm to the reputation of Tata Trusts".Mistry's decision effectively de-escalates tensions within the powerful public charities and consolidates chairman Noel Tata's influence at the Trusts, and across the $180-billion Tata Group they control.Invoking Ratan Tata - "dearest friend and mentor"- five times in a short letter to Noel Tata and three Tata charities, Mistry said his dedication to the former's ideals required him to avoid actions that could spark further controversy.

No mention of caveat in Mistry's letter to Trusts A confidant of the late Tata Trusts chairman Ratan Tata and executor of his will, Mistry was denied reappointment last week as a lifelong trustee, ending his three-year tenure with the philanthropic arms of the group.Calling it a privilege to have served as trustee "through personal endorsement" of Ratan Tata until Oct 28, Mistry wrote, "Therefore, in the spirit of Ratan N Tata, who always put public interest before his own, I hope that the actions of the other trustees going forward will be guided by the principles of transparency, good governance, and public interest."

He concluded his letter saying, "I part ways with a quote that Ratan N Tata used to say to me - nobody is bigger than the institution it serves". The letter made no reference to the caveat filed before the charity commissioner.Ever since Ratan Tata passed away in Oct last year, tensions have been simmering within the Trusts. These escalated and became evident in Sept when non-nominee directors of Tata Sons, led by Mistry, blocked the reappointment of Vijay Singh as a nominee director of the Trusts on the Tata Sons board.

The move followed a review of nominee directors on the Tata Sons board who had reached the age of 75. Noel Tata and Trusts vice-chairman Venu Srinivasan, the other two nominee trustees on Tata Sons board, opposed Singh's removal. The non-nominee directors had suggested Mistry as Singh's replacement, but Noel rejected the proposal.

Consequently, Singh, 77, resigned from the Tata Sons board.With the Trusts' long-held tradition of unanimity broken by the Mistry faction, Noel, along with Srinivasan and Singh, chose not to approve Mistry's reappointment as a lifelong trustee of the charities, bringing his tenure at Tata Trusts to an end on Oct 28.Mehli Mistry, a director of M Pallonji Group, with interests in shipping, dredging and car dealerships, is the first cousin of Noel's wife, Aloo. While his trusteeship ended at Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT), Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT), and Bai Hirabai JN Tata Navsari Charitable Institution Trust, it is not clear whether he will continue as a trustee of Tata Education and Development Trust (TEDT) and the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA).

At TEDT, he is a lifelong trustee, while he serves as SRTT's nominee on the board of NCPA.SDTT and SRTT are the two main charities within Tata Trusts, together holding about 52% of Tata Sons and forming the core of decision-making within the Tata Group. However, TEDT is the most cash-rich foundation, with a corpus of about Rs 5,000 crore.