The Bombay High Court on Thursday declined to grant an urgent hearing to a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a stay on key board meetings of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust — the two principal charitable institutions under the Tata Trusts umbrella — scheduled for Friday.
The high court’s refusal to urgently list the petition clears the way for Friday’s meetings to proceed as scheduled. The meetings come against the backdrop of mounting tensions within the Tata Trusts ecosystem after months of internal differences among trustees.
Among the key agenda items expected to be discussed are the removal of Tata Trusts Vice-Chairman Venu Srinivasan from the Tata Sons board, the reappointment of N Chandrasekaran as chairman of Tata Sons for a third consecutive term, the proposed induction of former Titan managing director Bhaskar Bhat to the Tata Sons board, and the long-running issue of a potential Tata Sons listing.
The petition to halt the meeting was first mentioned on Wednesday, when the presiding judge did not consider the matter urgent enough for immediate listing. It was mentioned again on Thursday. “The judge said that since the matter had already been deemed non-urgent, it was not listed. The petitioner now has the option of seeking a hearing before the vacation bench,” a person familiar with the matter said. The Bombay High Court will remain closed for vacation from May 11 to June 7.
Senior advocate Janak Dwarkadas appeared for the trusts, while the petitioner was represented by former Madras High Court judge Justice T Raja.
Legal Challenges to Board Composition
The petition was filed by Suresh Tulsiram Patilkhede, a resident of Khopoli in Maharashtra’s Raigad district, who described himself as a person interested in the proper administration of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT), a public trust governed by the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act, 1950.
The petition argued that SRTT was in violation of Section 30(A)(2) of the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act, which caps the number of trustees appointed for life or in perpetuity at 25 per cent of the board’s strength. At present, SRTT has six trustees, three of whom are lifetime trustees — Jimmy N Tata (appointed in 1989), Jehangir H C Jehangir (2019) and Noel Tata (2019).
Friction Over IPO
SRTT had filed a caveat before the high court following an April 18 communication sent to the Maharashtra Charity Commissioner and at least two trustees — Vijay Singh and Venu Srinivasan — flagging the alleged violation of Section 30(A)(2).
The Tata Sons listing question has emerged as a major point of disagreement among trustees. Chairman Noel Tata is understood to be opposed to listing the holding company of the listed Tata group entities. In contrast, Singh and Srinivasan have recently spoken in favour of a listing — a position many within the trusts see as a departure from an earlier unanimous board view against it.
The debate over a Tata Sons listing has intensified following recent regulatory developments that have narrowed the company’s options for avoiding mandatory listing under the Reserve Bank of India’s upper-layer NBFC framework. Tata Sons had sought to surrender its core investment company registration to escape the requirement. However, the RBI’s latest clarifications on indirect access to public funds, coupled with draft norms linking upper-layer classification more closely to asset size, are widely seen as making a listing increasingly difficult to avoid.
Srinivasan’s future on the Tata Sons board is also expected to come under scrutiny amid the recent governance-related friction within Tata Trusts. His public comments backing a Tata Sons listing are said to have triggered renewed questions around his continuation as a Tata Trusts nominee director on the Tata Sons board.
His inability to secure reappointment to the Tata Education and Development Trust (TEDT) has further raised questions over continuity and influence. Trustees are therefore expected to deliberate on whether his position on the Tata Sons board should be reassessed in light of the evolving leadership dynamics within the trusts.
Since the start of the year, Srinivasan has ceased to be a trustee on two Tata Trusts entities. He resigned from the Bai Hirabai Jamsetji Tata Navsari Charitable Institution in April and earlier this week failed to secure reappointment to TEDT.
The proposed reappointment of Chandrasekaran for a third term as chairman of Tata Sons is also likely to invite discussion amid heightened scrutiny over losses at Air India and Tata Digital. While his tenure has been marked by consolidation and investments in new-age businesses, trustees are expected to weigh execution challenges at these companies against the need for leadership continuity as the group navigates regulatory and governance pressures.
Finally, the proposed induction of Bhaskar Bhat to the Tata Sons board is expected to be discussed at a time when Tata Trusts’ representation on the board has already thinned. The trusts currently have only two nominee directors — Noel Tata and Srinivasan — despite being entitled to three seats. The third position has remained vacant since Vijay Singh stepped down from the Tata Sons board in September 2025, a development that triggered the now months-long internal discord.