New Delhi: In sharp escalation of boardroom brawl at India's largest conglomerate, Cyrus Mistry was on Friday ousted as Chairman of Tata Steel, the third Tata Group firm to do so, a move that Mistry-camp slammed as unprecedented erosion of core values.
The 10-member board of Tata Steel by "majority consent" removed Mistry as Chairman and named O P Bhatt, an independent director and former head of State Bank of India, as interim head.
Tata Steel in a regulatory filing said following leadership change at Tata Sons, the holding company of the group from where Mistry was abruptly ousted on October 24, it had received a notice from the principal promoter seeking convening of a shareholder meet to remove him as director of the company.
"In view of the current situation ie the Special Notice and Requisition received from Tata Sons Ltd, the Board of Directors through circular resolutions dated November 25, 2016 passed by majority consent, has decided to replace Mr Cyrus P Mistry as the Chairman of the board with immediate effect," it said.
Tata Steel is the third group firm to remove Mistry as chairman. First Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) removed him as chairman but that ouster was not through a vote but by virtue of Tata Sons holding a commanding 73.26 per cent stake in the India's largest software services firm.
Then on November 15, seven out of 10 board members of Tata Global Beverages voted him out.
Slamming the latest move, sources close to Mistry said, "We believe that this unprecedented erosion of core Tata Values, is seriously damaging Brand Tata. Each time one thinks the current standard of corporate governance in Tata Group listed companies under the leadership of the Interim Chairman (Ratan Tata) cannot hit a newer low, one has been belied."
They claimed a circular resolution for replacing Mistry as chairman was initiated just minutes before a pre-scheduled Board Meeting.
"Those involved are representatives of Tata Sons, those drawing large remuneration from other Tata Trustee-controlled companies, and an "independent" director, who is the wife of a newly-inducted Tata trustee, who is also recently nominated director of Tata Sons," they claimed without naming anyone.
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