A day after Tata group moved to the Supreme Court against challenging the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) verdict favouring Cyrus Mistry, Ratan Tata also joined the issue and filed second petition to rule out the order.
In his plea, the Tata group patriarch argued that the findings of the tribunal saying that the verdict is based on a wrong premise that Tata Sons is owned by just two groups.
“The (NCLAT’s) judgment is also infirm because it blatantly indulges in propagating a selective narrative where relevant facts and record have been glossed over, submissions made by the appellant and other respondents have been ignored and if noticed then are not been dealt with in the impugned judgment,” Tata was quoted as saying in his plea in an Economic Times report, adding, “The pretense of reasoning and judicial approach is betrayed by omission to consider the record itself.”
The petition further said that the verdict was ‘unfortunate’ and adverse remarks were made against Tata who was held guilty of oppression and mismanagement without providing any proper evidence.
While defending himself, Ratan Tata also gave an example of Mistry’s lack of leadership skills during the DoCoMo litigation.
“It was during Mistry’s tenure that Tata Sons reneged on its word with DoCoMo under the agreement citing purely legal and technical arguments. Even after an adverse verdict was delivered in the arbitration, Mistry showed complete obstinacy and attempted to resist complying with the legal obligations further,” said the petition.
“This is not what the Tata Sons brand stands for. Quite to the contrary, honouring its commitments is one of Tata Sons’ highest virtues it takes great pride in. The spat with DoCoMo brought ill-repute and reputational losses to Tata Sons,” Tata said.
Country’s biggest corporate feud began after Mistry was sacked from his post in October 2016, citing his ‘incompetence’ as the reason. Later, Mistry approached the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Mumbai, appealing to dismiss board’s decision, but lost the case. It was then when Mistry moved to NCLAT that delivered its verdict on December 18 last year, reinstating Mistry as executive chairman.
(With input from agencies)