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

Chief Justice SA Bobde said the NCLAT granted a prayer not made.

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Tata Group had on Thursday moved the Supreme Court against the reappointment of Cyrus Mistry as company’s chairman.

A day later, company patriarch Ratan Tata also joined the issue and filed a second petition to rule out the order.

The case was listed before a three-judge bench headed by Bobde and comprising Justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant.

Ratan Tata in his petition had said that the verdict was ‘unfortunate’ and adverse remarks were made against Tata Group which was held guilty of oppression and mismanagement without providing any proper evidence.

He also gave an example of Mistry’s lack of leadership skills during the DoCoMo litigation.

On December 18, last year, the NCLAT had restored Cyrus Mistry as the Executive Chairman of Tata Group, stating that his removal was illegal.

The two-judge bench of NCLAT said Ratan Tata’s actions against Mistry were oppressive and the appointment of N Chandrasekaran as the new executive chairman was illegal. It also quashed the company’s conversion from a public firm to a private firm.

Cyrus Mistry was appointed as the sixth chairman of Tata Group in 2012. On October 24, 2016, he was ousted following a boardroom coup and replaced by N Chandrasekaran on February 20, 2017.

Cyrus Mistry launched legal proceedings against Tata Sons after his removal from the company as well as it declaring the selection and appointment of N Chandrashekaran as chairperson as illegal.

Meanwhile, Cyrus Mistry on Sunday said that he would not take up the chairmanship of Tata Sons or become director of any Tata Group company but pursue all options to protect the Shapoorji Pallonji Group’s rights as a minority stakeholder, including a seat at the Tata Sons’ Board.

He said that his decision has been made in the interests of the Tata Group, “whose interests are far more important than the interests of any individual”.

“To dispel the misinformation campaign being conducted, I intend to make it clear that despite the NCLAT order in my favour, I will not be pursuing the Executive Chairmanship of Tata Sons, or Directorship of TCS, Tata Teleservices or Tata Industries.

“I will however vigorously pursue all options to protect our rights as a minority shareholder, including that of resuming the thirty-year history of a seat at the Board of Tata Sons and the incorporation of the highest standards of corporate governance and transparency at Tata Sons,” he had said in a statement.