Kolkata: The fractions in the Tata Trusts appear to be running deeper as allegations keep flying in the senior echelons of the bodies that hold the key to one of India’s biggest and most venerable business empires. Reports now allege that Siddharth Sharma, the chief executive officer of Tata Trusts, asked vice-chairmen Venu Srinivasan and Vijay Singh to resign without disclosing full information. This happened as early as last week and the report quoted two trustees to this effect.

In the Tata empire, the trusts are of immense significance since the effective control over the Tata Group takes place through them. Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust together hold a majority stake in Tata Sons, which is the holding company of the Tata Group. Reports have regularly hinted at continuing divide among the Tata trusts with some also questioning the authority of Noel Tata, who is the chairman of the Tata trusts.

One trustee yet to resign

After being asked to resign Venu Srinivasan has stepped down. Srinivasan is the chairman of automotive major TVS Group. But Vijay Singh has not yet resigned. He is a former defence secretary. Both of them were asked to resign from Bai Hirabai JN Tata Navsari Charitable Institution, in which they were trustees. The report said that when they were asked to quit, a key eligibility criteria was held back from them. “I was not fully informed of the situation. Justice Kania’s opinion was not provided along with the request to resign,” Srinivasan told The Econ0omic Times. Incidentally, justice H J Kania referred to here was the first chief justice of independent India.

Continuing conflict

The latest controversy seems to have been ignited by a conflict that began with former trustee Mehli Mistry, who resigned from Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust in October-November after fellow trustees including Noel Tata voted against his reappointment. Mistry has since appealed for an inquiry by the Charity Commissioner of Maharashtra. he had alleged that Venu Srinivasan nor Vijay Singh did not have the eligibility criteria to hold the offices in the Tata trusts since they were not members of the Parsi Zoroastrian faith nor permanent residents of Mumbai. These were the conditions that were supposed to have been met to select the trustees.