Mehli Mistry files caveat on removal from Tata Trusts; cites past resolution to contest ouster – The Times of India

MUMBAI: Mehli Mistry, whose reappointment on Tata Trusts boards was denied by a majority decision last week, filed a caveat before the charity commissioner in Mumbai Saturday requesting an opportunity to be heard before any decision on a change is sanctioned.Mistry, executor of Ratan Tata‘s will, has also sent the caveat notice to all trustees of Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, Sir Ratan Tata Trust, and Bai Hirabai Jamsetji Navsari Charitable Institution, including chairman Noel Tata, whose wife Aloo is his first cousin.Rules require the Trusts to file a report with the charity commissioner on the changes within 90 days. Once the charity commissioner accepts the new board composition, only then can the Trusts make changes in the signatories of their bank accounts, official correspondence, etc. Charity commissioner is the first judicial forum where grievances related to public charities are taken up.A caveat is filed to protect the petitioner’s interest to ensure that he is notified of the proceedings and has an opportunity to participate in the hearings before any order by the charity commissioner is passed in the particular matter, said senior Supreme Court advocate HP Ranina. In other words, a caveat is a notice not to sanction a change in the board of trustees without Mistry’s submissions. Tata Trusts will also present their arguments before the charity commissioner.

At Tata Trusts, reappointment of a trustee requires unanimous consent of all trustees. Mistry, who was inducted into the boards of Tata Trusts by Ratan Tata in Oct 2022 for three years, had a tenure which expired on October 28, 2025. On October 23, the Trusts circulated a circular seeking trustees’ consent on his reappointment as a permanent trustee. Noel and Trusts’ vice chairmen Venu Srinivasan and Vijay Singh denied Mistry’s continuation, while three other trustees, Pramit Jhaveri, Darius Khambata and Jehangir Jehangir, favoured his reappointment. Ratan Tata’s brother Jimmy Tata abstained from participation. Since there was no unanimity, Mistry’s trusteeship was not renewed.Ranina told TOI that Mistry’s defence before the charity commissioner will be the unanimous October 17, 2024 resolution passed by the trustees that they all will be reappointed as permanent trustees as and when their existing tenures expire. Ranina said any resolution passed by the Trusts is binding on the public charities according to the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act and the Trusts’ deeds. If Trusts want to revoke the October 17 resolution, then they will have to call a meeting and all the trustees will have to unanimously rescind it, Ranina added.However, a trustee who didn’t support Mistry’s reappointment, had said that the October 17 resolution cannot be interpreted as a procedural formality, which undermines the trustees’ fiduciary duties and runs contrary to the law. Senior advocate Devdatt Kamat said Mistry would need to show how due process in conducting the vote rejecting his reappointment was impaired or if there was a mala fide action or if the trust deed was breached since much would also depend on the deed.Senior counsel Shekhar Naphade said the “jurisdiction of the charity commissioner is very limited and confined only to the genuineness and it is not for the charity commissioner to decide the wisdom or its propriety, but if it leads to a deadlock or issues of any alleged mal-administration, the charity commissioner can step in. Otherwise the Trust is entitled to manage its own affairs in terms of its trust deed.If a trusteeship is not renewed, it constitutes a change in composition of the board of trustees which requires under Sec 22 to be formally and mandatorily reported to the charity commissioner via a change report within 90 days of the change that occurred.”The law also provides for provisional acceptance by the deputy or assistant charity commissioner of the change report within 15 working days of it being filed and for a notice to be issued inviting objections to such change within 30 days from the notice date. The Maharashtra Public Trusts Act provides that if no objections are received the change becomes final, but if objections are made, the deputy charity commissioner “may” hold an inquiry and give a finding in three months.Bombay high court in an Oct 2025 judgment held that in a dispute over management of affairs of a trust, an inquiry would determine the lawful appointment or removal of a trustee and a member removed from the trust could legitimately intervene.