Synopsis
The Bombay High Court declined to halt a Sir Ratan Tata Trust meeting. A petitioner argued the trust’s board composition violates new Maharashtra laws. The court stated the petitioner can seek further relief from a vacation bench. The trust’s agenda includes reviewing its representation on Tata Sons’ board. The court’s decision allows the meeting to proceed as planned.
IANSMumbai: The Bombay HC on Thursday refused to intervene in a proposed meeting of the trustees of Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT) on Friday, saying a writ petition seeking a stay didn’t require an urgent hearing. The petitioner can approach a vacation bench for any further relief, a bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad said.
The writ petition, filed by Suresh Tulsiram Patilkhede, argued that the trust’s current board composition breaches statutory limits introduced under the Maharashtra Public Trust (Second Amendment) Act, 2025, and hence any decision it takes is in violation of the laws. The petitioner further said all decisions made subsequent to September 1, 2025, should be deemed invalid on the same grounds.
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The agenda for Friday’s SRTT meeting includes reconsideration of Tata Trusts’ representation on the board of Tata Sons, the holding company of Tata Group entities. Currently, trust nominees on the board of Tata Sons are Tata Trusts chairman Noel Tata and vice chairman Venu Srinivasan.
SRTT holds 23.56% equity in Tata Sons. Altogether, Tata Trusts own 66%. Before the court’s direction, SRTT, through senior advocate Janak Dwarkadas, said the trust was anticipating such a move and hence had already filed a caveat in the matter; hence, they need to be heard before the court passes any order. Typically, a caveat is filed to ensure that the court doesn’t pass any order on the matter until the respondent party is heard.
The Maharashtra Public Trusts (Amendment) Ordinance, 2025, inserted a new section, 30A(2), in the legislation governing trusts. It capped the number of perpetual trustees at one-fourth of a trust’s total strength if the trust deed is silent on the matter or contains no specific provision regarding the issue.
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The rule that took effect from September 1 last year requires existing trusts to always maintain the cap. According to the petition, SRTT currently has six trustees, of whom three-Jimmy Naval Tata, Jehangir HC Jehangir, and Noel Naval Tata-serve as life trustees. This constitutes 50% of the board, exceeding the statutory ceiling of 25%.
The petition has named the State of Maharashtra, charity commissioner, SRTT, as well as trustees Noel Tata, Venu Srinivasan, Vijay Singh, Jimmy N Tata, Jehangir HC Jehangir and Darius Khambata as respondents.
A retired judge of the Madras High Court and senior counsel T Raja represented the petitioner.
