MUMBAI: Vijay Singh, India’s former defense minister whose eligibility as a trustee is under legal challenge, skipped a board meeting of the Bhai Hirabai Jamsetji Tata Navsari Charitable Trust on Friday, the latest sign of a worsening governance dispute within India’s most powerful charitable network.The challenge was filed by Mehli Mistry, a former trustee, before the Charity Commissioner of Maharashtra, questioning the appointments of Singh and Venu Srinivasan as trustees of Bai Hirabai. Mistry cited clauses in the 1923 Trust Deed requiring all trustees to be Zoroastrians and permanent residents of Mumbai, and said none of them met these conditions.Srinivasan, chairman emeritus of TVS Motors, stepped down due to other commitments, but later admitted that he did so at the request of the Tata Trusts management.
Singh rejected a similar request. Among those present at Friday’s meeting were Chairman Noel Tata, Trustees Darius Khambatta and Jehangir HC Jehangir, the last of whom joined via video conference from Europe. Jimmy Tata, Noel’s older half-brother and fellow guardian, is absent again. Singh confirmed that he did not attend the meeting. The board discussed, among other things, Mistry’s objections and next steps, a person familiar with the proceedings said.
The dispute revealed a deeper legal tension. Both Srinivasan and Singh alleged that Tata Trust withheld from them a legal opinion by former Chief Justice of India M H Kania, who held that the restrictive eligibility provisions in Bai Hirabai’s trust deed were “legally bad”. This interpretation had previously allowed former Tata Group director RK Krishnakumar to be appointed to the board. Regardless of this opinion and previous precedent, appointments of non-Zoroastrians remain open to challenge under the provisions of the law, Tata Trusts said, adding that a legal opinion does not replace a judicial ruling. The commissioner has not yet ordered a formal investigation. Bai Hirabai was gifted by Sir Ratan Tata, the youngest son of Tata Group founder Jamsetji Tata, who bequeathed properties in Mumbai and Navsari to the foundation, the provenance that gives its century-old deed its continuing legal force.
