The spat between Tata’s and Cyrus Mistry is turning uglier with every passing day and in the latest attack, Cyrus Mistry had blasted at Tata’s after he’s been ousted from the Tata Global. Mistry struck a heavy blow to Ratan Tata by first issuing a statement rebutting the allegations levelled against him for rising expenses and impairments during his tenure as chairman of Tata Sons, and later terming his removal as chairman as illegal as there was nothing in this regard on the agenda of the board.
Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry took a blow on Tuesday when seven out of ten directors on the Tata Global Beverages (TGBL) board voted to remove him from the post of chairman. This happened just a day after Tata Motors’ board chose not to name him in their expression of support to the company management.
Harish Bhat, a non-executive director of the company, has been appointed as the new chairman of the company after removal of Cyrus Mistry.
TGBL is the second group firm, after Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), where Mistry has lost his chairmanship since being ignominiously removed as chairman of Tata Group’s holding firm Tata Sons. TGBL co-owns and runs the Starbucks coffee chain in India. However, Mistry remains in power at group firms like Tata Chemicals, Tata Steel, IHCL and Tata Power.
While TGBL filed a statement with the stock exchanges stating that Mistry had been removed, Mistry, through his office, released a statement declaring that the move was illegal and was a repeat of his ouster from Tata Sons on October 24. “When the proposal to remove Mr Mistry was sought to be moved, it was ruled out by the Chairman since it was not on the agenda.
The meeting was conducted by Mr Mistry as Chairman and was concluded,” his office stated. Earlier in the day, Mistry had released a statement rebutting Tata Sons’ letter of November 10 as a “brazen attempt” to mislead the public and that significant costs had been incurred for the use of corporate jets by Ratan Tata, the replacement of controversial lobbyist Nira Radia’s Vaishnavi Communications with Rediffusion Edelman and that writedowns at Tata Sons were due to legacy issues like Tata Teleservices.