'Cyrus Mistry's petition shows his deep animosity towards Ratan Tata'

Tata Sons on Tuesday said it will contest allegations made by its ousted Chairman Cyrus Mistry against the holding company in petition filed by his investment companies at National Company Law Tribunal.

“This afternoon Tata Sons Ltd was served with a petition under Sections 241 and 242 of the Companies Act before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). We understand that the petition has been filed by investment companies of Mr. Cyrus Mistry,” the company said in a statement.

“Tata Sons is in consultation with its lawyers and will contest the allegations therein,” the company said further.

Claiming that it has “followed the highest standards of corporate governance in its operations”, Tata Sons said it viewed “the Petition as an unfortunate outcome of the situation arising from Mr Mistry’s complete disregard of the ethos of the Tata Group and Jamsetji Tata”.

It further said: “Despite, Mr Mistry’s recent assertions that it is not a personal issue, it is evident that it always has been for him a personal issue which reflects his deep animosity towards Mr Ratan N Tata.”

The company alleged that Mistry was the Chairman of Tata Sons for almost four years and it was surprising that he is now making allegations on activities of Tata Sons “after doing little to address them, in his tenure both as a Director (since 2006) and a Chairman since 2012”.

“Mr. Mistry's removal as Chairman from the Board of Tata Sons Ltd was approved by an overwhelming majority of the Directors and it is unfortunate that Mr Mistry has not been able to graciously accept the decision of the very same Board that appointed him,” the statement said.