Tata trusts reappoint Venu Srinivasan as vice-chairman for life

MUMBAI: In an anticipated move, trustees of Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT) and Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT) approved reappointment of trustee and vice-chairman Venu Srinivasan for life on Monday, setting aside recent differences over governance issues.The decision follows reappointment of trustee and chairman Noel Tata in Jan 2025, with no limits on his tenure. SDTT and SRTT have a combined 52% stake in Tata Sons.Fellow trustee Mehli Mistry’s reappointment is similarly scheduled in the next few days. Srinivasan’s reappointment was not unexpected: the Trusts had unanimously passed a resolution on Oct 17, 2024, stating that “on 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.”At the Oct 17, 2024 meeting, it was decided that any trustee who voted against another trustee’s reappointment would be in breach of their commitment and unfit to serve on the charities’ boards. This meant all trustees at SDTT and SRTT serve for life.

‘All Tata trustees serve for life’

At the Oct 17, 2024 meeting, it was decided that the trustees were all “equally responsible” and “charged with public duty and specifically tasked by Mr Ratan N Tata”. This resolution thus makes a trustee’s reappointment more of a formality than a serious process.

Their tenures also do not have an end, similar to past trustees like JRD Tata, Ratan Tata, Jamshed Bhabha, and RK Krishna Kumar, who held their positions until their passing.While these four trustees were exceptions, others like Noshir Soonawala, who was also a trustee for life, stepped down from the boards of the two Trusts due to health and advancing age. There have also been trustees with fixed tenures, typically three years, which have been periodically renewed.Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust are the main trusts within the Tata Trusts umbrella, collectively owning about 52% of Tata Sons. At the Oct 17, 2024 meeting, Trusts also decided that directors nominated by them to the board of Tata Sons would be reviewed on attaining 75 years of age. It was during this meeting that the charities chose to nominate Noel Tata to the Tata Sons board. Noel assumed the role of chairman of Trusts following the passing of his older half-brother Ratan Tata on Oct 9, 2024.

The Trusts also specified at the Oct 17, 2024 meeting that any breach of the commitment to reappoint a trustee for life will lead to reconsideration of all resolutions passed at the same board meet. This was to ensure that trustees could not selectively follow only parts of the resolution and disregard others, said people familiar with the information. In addition to Noel Tata, Venu Srinivasan, and Mehli Mistry, the boards of the main charities include Vijay Singh, Pramit Jhaveri, Darius Khambata, and Jehangir Jehangir.

The first four are part of the executive committee, which makes decisions related to Tata Sons’ shareholding and other operational matters of the Trusts.Differences among trustees became public last month following a review of nominee directors on the Tata Sons board who have reached 75 years. As a result, Vijay Singh’s directorship was reviewed, and he lost the majority of trustees’ support. Mehli was suggested as Singh’s replacement, but Noel Tata rejected the proposal. Consequently, Singh resigned from the board of Tata Sons.