The Japan Times - Noel Tata requests records of September 17 Tata Sons board meeting

Tata Trusts Chairman Noel Tata requested the record of the Tata Sons board meeting on September 17, which approved N Chandrasekaran as Chairman for a third term, and has also questioned his family’s business relations with the TVS Group, headed by fellow board member Venu Srinivasan.

Tata requested records in a letter to the company secretary, Suprakash Mukhopadhyay, on Monday. The letter was copied to other board members of Tata Sons.

The development escalates tensions between Tata and board members of Tata Sons, which have come to the fore following the contentious board meeting on September 17.

“The draft minutes [of the board meeting] are contested in material respects. The recording is the only neutral record of what transpired and there can be no legitimate reason to withhold it from a director who was present at the meeting and who has placed his objections on record,” Tata wrote.

Tata has once again said the resolution reappointing Chandrasekaran was void and said no selection committee was constituted under Article 118 of the Articles of Association for reappointment.

This is particularly significant because a request to form a selection committee has been pending since August 13. The affirmative vote of the directors was not obtained.

The dispute has also raised questions about reported commercial dealings between TVS Motor Company and Hanno One Warehousing Pvt Ltd, a company associated with members of Chandrasekaran’s immediate family. the letter, media reports indicated that TVS Motor entered into warehousing and industrial park arrangements with Hanno One. Noel Tata has argued that the relationship should have been disclosed to the Tata Sons board before directors considered Chandrasekaran’s continuation as Executive Chairman. He has also questioned whether Venu Srinivasan, Chairman Emeritus of TVS Motor and a Tata Sons board member who participated in the reappointment process, should have disclosed the relationship and recused himself from related deliberations.

S.Yamamoto--JT