Kamal Ghorui
Maharashtra’s charity commissioner has ordered Tata Trusts to defer board meetings and launched an inquiry into complaints filed by vice-chairman Venu Srinivasan and advocate Katyayani Agrawal, stating that “the issues highlighted by them are serious and require due consideration.” The development deepens a governance dispute at one of India’s most influential philanthropic institutions where Srinivasan has been a trustee for a decade since the late Ratan Tata appointed him.In an order signed on Friday by commissioner Amogh Kaloti, the regulator directed the Trusts not to convene any meetings until the inquiry report is submitted. The Trusts — the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT) and Tata Education and Development Trust — subsequently informed trustees that Saturday’s planned sessions had been cancelled.Kaloti had on May 13 directed a formal inquiry into complaints by Agrawal, who had filed a representation on April 18, and Srinivasan, who lodged a similar complaint on April 28, alleging violations of the Maharashtra Public Trusts (MPT) Act. The move followed a Bombay high court order the same day which, while permitting petitioner Suresh Tulsiram Patilkhede to withdraw his plea, recorded that representations had been made to the commissioner alleging violations of September 2025 amendments to the MPT Act capping perpetual trustees on a charity board at 25%. The court also recorded the petitioner’s contention that convening the Trusts meeting on May 16 would be contrary to the statutory mandate.Reacting to the order, the Trusts on Friday said they were examining the commissioner’s directions, adding that, as they understood it, the directions pertain only to SRTT and were issued ex parte, without prior notice or hearing being afforded to the Trust. They also said SRTT was “not aware of any complaint having been filed by Srinivasan until receipt of the commissioner’s directions,” noting that he had earlier acknowledged notices of board meetings scheduled for May 8 and later rescheduled to May 16.Of SRTT’s six trustees, three — Noel Tata, the chairman, Jimmy Tata and Jehangir Jehangir — are perpetual trustees. The remaining three, Srinivasan, Vijay Singh and Darius Khambata, are non-perpetual. Under the amended Act, a trust of this size can have only one perpetual trustee.Agrawal had argued that with perpetual trustees accounting for 50% of the SRTT board — double the statutory cap — decisions taken by the Trust after the law was amended were liable to be treated as invalid.The Trusts said the amendment is prospective in nature and does not impact appointments of perpetual trustees made prior to Sept 1, 2025, a view they said is supported by legal opinions and clarifications obtained by them.The dispute plays out against a broader rift between Noel and Srinivasan over the listing of Tata Sons, with Srinivasan in favour and Noel opposed. Both sit on the Tata Sons board. Saturday’s cancelled meeting was to review the Trusts’ nominees on the Tata Sons board and take up the matter of Srinivasan and Singh’s support for a Tata Sons IPO.Kaloti warned that allowing the board to meet while the inquiry was pending could create “further complications and multiplicity of proceedings,” particularly on questions of the Trust’s administration, management or composition. “It would therefore be in the interest of the Trust as well as in the interest of justice that such meeting is deferred,” he stated.
