Kamal Ghorui
MUMBAI: Tata Trusts is moving the charity commissioner to dismantle a century-old provision barring non-Zoroastrians from serving as trustees of the Bai Hirabai Jamsetji Tata Navsari Charitable Institution.The decision was taken at the board meeting held last Friday. Tata Trusts said the trustees decided to seek alteration of restrictive clauses governing trustee eligibility “to correct anomalies in the Bai Hirabai trust deed and to align it with the values that the Tata Trusts have always epitomised.”The move follows a challenge by Mehli Mistry, a former trustee, who petitioned the commissioner arguing that the 1923 trust deed required all trustees to be practising Zoroastrians with permanent residence in Mumbai or Navsari, conditions he contended at least two sitting trustees did not meet.Bai Hirabai’s decision to alter the deed is an “admission” that the restrictions did not allow non-Zoroastrians, said a lawyer. “This confirms that the prior composition was illegal, and therefore all decisions taken during that period are illegal.” He added there was no question of a limitation period, and whether the current trustees even have the power to seek an amendment was itself a moot point. The dispute has already claimed one casualty. Venu Srinivasan, chairman emeritus of TVS Motors, resigned from the Bai Hirabai board following Mistry’s challenge, later acknowledging he had done so at the request of Tata Trusts management. Vijay Singh, a former defence secretary, declined a similar request and did not attend Friday’s meeting.Both men alleged that Tata Trusts had withheld from them a legal opinion by ex-CJI MH Kania, who held that the restrictive eligibility clauses were “bad in law.” Kania’s reasoning rested on a codicil to Sir Ratan Tata’s will, which lays down that there are no restrictions on trustee eligibility on grounds of ethnicity, race or religion. It also provided that trustees of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT) would also serve as trustees of Bai Hirabai. Srinivasan and Singh remain on the SRTT board, which holds shares in Tata Sons. Bai Hirabai Trust does not own shares in any Tata company. It was endowed by Sir Ratan Tata, younger son of group founder Jamsetji, who bequeathed properties in Mumbai and Navsari to the institution.“The Trusts are doing damage control,” said a person familiar with the matter, noting that the group had previously maintained that irrespective of the Kania opinion and past precedent, appointments of non-Zoroastrians remained open to challenge under the deed’s provisions.
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Lawyer Katyayani Agrawal alleges violationsIn a separate development, lawyer Katyayani Agrawal has lodged a complaint alleging violations of the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act by SRTT. Agrawal’s complaint invokes section 30A(2) of the Act, which stipulates that perpetual trustees shall not exceed one-fourth of the total trustees. Of the six trustees currently on SRTT’s board, three—chairman Noel Tata, his older half-brother Jimmy Tata and Jehangir HC Jehangir — hold perpetual positions, amounting to 50% of the board, double the statutory ceiling of 25%.Agrawal, who has obtained a supporting opinion from ex-SC justice Krishna Murari, has urged the commissioner to take consequential action, including the removal of excess perpetual trustees or the appointment of additional trustees to restore the board to legal compliance. However, a lawyer said the complaint would be difficult to sustain, as the perpetual trustees had been appointed prior to the amendment of the Act.
