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

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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.

Mehli Mistry files caveat on removal from Tata Trusts

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.





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Australia fuel crisis: Panic buying prompts PM to reassure nation over fuel supply

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Australia fuel crisis: Panic buying prompts PM to reassure nation over fuel supply



Anthony Albanese says nation’s supply remains “secure” amid reports of panic buying and shortages.



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Meta and YouTube found liable in social media addiction trial

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Meta and YouTube found liable in social media addiction trial



A woman has been awarded $6m in a verdict that could have implications for hundreds of other cases in the US.



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Target faces a new boycott over ICE response as retailer presses ahead with turnaround

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Target faces a new boycott over ICE response as retailer presses ahead with turnaround


A major teachers’ union is calling for its members to skip Target when buying back-to-school supplies, the latest twist in a series of boycotts that have targeted the big-box retailer as its turnaround shows signs of life, CNBC has learned.

The AFT, or American Federation of Teachers, passed a resolution Thursday that calls on its 1.8 million members and others to shop at local stores and not at Target, saying the company did not respond adequately to the surge of federal immigration enforcement in the retailer’s hometown of Minneapolis this winter. Federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, during the operation.

The labor union, which is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, plans to urge a similar resolution at AFL-CIO’s convention in Minneapolis this summer and at conventions held by other organizations, including the NAACP and LULAC, AFT President Randi Weingarten said.

Target declined to comment specifically on the AFT’s resolution but said in a statement that it has “a longstanding commitment to strengthening the communities we serve,” including donating 5% of profits since the company’s founding and offering a discount to educators as part of a teacher appreciation program.

Target’s annual sales have declined for the past three years in a row, but the company’s new CEO Michael Fiddelke laid out an ambitious plan earlier this month to refresh its stores, add more enticing merchandise and return to sales growth. The retailer said it expects net sales to rise about 2% this fiscal year compared with the prior year and anticipates sales will grow every quarter.

It is unclear if and how much the AFT’s call for a back-to-school boycott could hurt Target, which is trying to win back customers. Earlier this month, Atlanta area pastor Jamal Harrison Bryant announced the end of a yearlong boycott of the company, called Target Fast, which had started because of the company’s rollback of major diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

At a press conference, Bryant said Target has demonstrated its commitment to the Black community with investments in Black businesses and donations to Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Yet other activists leading a separate boycott, including former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner, have said they continue to call for shoppers to steer clear of Target.

The AFT previously supported and participated in the Target boycott over its DEI rollback.

The retailer has attributed some of its sales losses to backlash to its DEI decision, along with other factors including company missteps with merchandise, a weaker store experience and softer discretionary spending.

At an investor meeting in Minneapolis in early March, Fiddelke stressed that it’s “a new chapter for Target.” He said the company is “doing the work to build connection with new guests, deepen relationships with existing guests and earn back trust with guests we’ve disappointed.”

In a separate email to Target employees earlier this month, Fiddelke highlighted how the retailer is putting its strategy into action, including through its move to cut prices on more than 3,000 items and the opening of its 2,000th store. He said Target has made progress with winning back trust, too, noting the end of the Target Fast boycott.

He said Target has had “ongoing conversations with the organizers” of the boycott, who have “acknowledged the meaningful contributions Target has made, and will continue to make, to the Black community.”

In an interview with CNBC, Weingarten said the AFT’s boycott is focused on what she called Target’s lack of response to the surge of aggressive and violent immigration enforcement in its own backyard. Weingarten said the AFT sent a letter to Target and met with Target staff to encourage them to speak up before the union moved to pass the resolution.

“Target was negotiating with our colleagues in the civil rights community for weeks and weeks and weeks,” she said. “They could have very easily dealt with both [concerns about DEI and immigration enforcement] and they chose not to.”

She said Target is “more worried about standing with the Trump administration than the communities that made them a profitable company.”

Fiddelke joined dozens of executives from Minnesota-based corporations in co-signing a letter in late January calling for an “immediate de-escalation” in the state after the fatal shooting of Pretti. However, the letter did not name the shooting victims Pretti or Good or call out the president, his immigration policies or federal agents.

Fiddelke also shared a video message with employees that more directly acknowledged current events, but stopped short of calling for ICE agents to leave the city or for accountability in the two shooting deaths.

Weingarten described the CEOs’ letter as “insulting” and said it “basically blamed both sides.”

She said the union, which includes many teachers, can have the greatest financial impact during the back-to-school shopping season this summer and fall. By passing the resolution now, she said, the AFT can get the word out to members and “give Target enough time to come back to its senses.”



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