Bombay HC restrains criminal defamation proceedings against Ratan Tata, others on Tata Sons’ board
Industrialist Nusli Wadia had said notices served to him for removal from the board of three Tata group companies were intentionally framed to harm his reputation
mumbai Updated: Mar 19, 2019 00:06 ISTIn a reprieve for Tata Sons Limited and all its directors, including group chairman Ratan Tata, the Bombay high court (HC) on Monday restrained the additional chief metropolitan magistrate (ACMM) at Ballard Pier from proceeding ahead with the criminal defamation case filed against them by industrialist Nusli Wadia.
Justice Mridula Bhatkar directed “the trial court (ACMM) shall not proceed with the matter on Monday (March 25)”, when the criminal defamation case filed by Wadia was scheduled to come up for further hearing. She has now posted the petition for further hearing on March 27.
In the aftermath of the corporate battle between Ratan Tata and Cyrus Mistry, Wadia, an independent director on the board of a number of Tata group companies, in April 2016 replaced Mistry as the interim chairman of three group companies – Tata Chemicals Limited, Tata Steel Limited and Tata Motors Limited. In November, Wadia was also removed from the board of the three companies.
The 73-year-old Wadia Group chairman, on December 23, 2016, approached the magistrate court complaining that contents of the special notices, sent by Tata Sons Limited to the three companies for his removal as director from their boards on November 10, 2016, were defamatory and intentionally framed to harm his reputation.
The ACMM verified Wadia’s statement in support of his complaint on December 14, 2018 and three days later issued a process against the entire Tata Sons board – chairman Ratan Tata, nine other directors and the then chief operating officer of the company. Tata Sons Limited is the principal shareholder of all Tata group companies.
Ratan Tata and the others approached the high court on March 7, challenging the issuance of process against them. They contended that none of the contents of the special notices were defamatory. Besides, their petition stated, the statements were meant only for the boards of directors of the three group companies, and were not circulated or published either by Tata Sons Limited or any of its directors.
Lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who represented the Tata Sons board, said the complaint was filed in December 2016, and Wadia did not follow it up. Wadia’s lawyer Abad Ponda argued that the petitioners had not annexed documents and so no relief should be granted to them.
First Published: Mar 19, 2019 00:05 IST