Supreme Court upholds Tata Sons’ appeal in Mistry case, sets aside NCLAT order

In a major victory for the Tata Group, the Supreme Court on Friday set aside the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) order restoring Cyrus Mistry as the executive chairman of Tata Sons.

A bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian said it is allowing the appeals filed by Tata Group.

“The order of National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) dated December 18, 2019 is set aside,” the bench said.

“All the appeals filed by Tata Sons against Cyrus Mistry are allowed. We leave it to Tata Sons and Mistry to take the legal route to resolve issues of shares,” CJI SA Bobde added.

Mistry had succeeded Ratan Tata as chairman of Tata Sons in 2012 but was ousted four years later in a board meeting.

The bench had on December 17 last year reserved the verdict in the matter.

The order is also a setback for the Mistry clan’s Shapoorji Pallonji (SP) Group, which has been seeking ways to raise cash and pay down burgeoning debt after its businesses were hammered by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic. Tata has opposed the SP Group’s proposal to borrow money against its stake in Tata Sons.