Venu Srinivasan’s position as a Tata Trusts nominee director on the Tata Sons board could come under fresh scrutiny once the meeting freeze on the Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT) is lifted, allowing the trusts to formally consider pending agenda items, people familiar with the matter said.
Srinivasan’s continuation on the Tata Sons board was among the issues slated for discussion at a Tata Trusts meeting scheduled for May 16. The meeting was indefinitely deferred after the Maharashtra Charity Commissioner directed SRTT not to convene meetings pending an inquiry into the composition of its board.
Listing Stance Divergence
The issue had surfaced after Srinivasan publicly spoke in favour of listing Tata Sons, despite having been party to a unanimous decision of the Tata Trusts board against the proposal, people aware of the matter said.
His comments were seen by some within the trusts as being at odds with the board’s position, raising questions over whether his continuation as a trusts nominee on the Tata Sons board should be reconsidered. The matter could not be taken up after the May 16 meeting was deferred.
Srinivasan’s representation to the Charity Commissioner over the composition of the SRTT board has since added another dimension to the issue.
In his May 15 order, Charity Commissioner Amogh S Kaloti recorded that Srinivasan had filed a complaint similar to an earlier representation by advocate Katyayani Agrawal, raising questions over the number of perpetual trustees on the SRTT board. The commissioner said the issues raised in the representations were serious and required consideration.
People familiar with the developments said the fact that a sitting trustee had independently approached the Charity Commissioner on a matter concerning the composition of the trust could itself come up for discussion once the trustees are able to meet.
The trustees have not held a board meeting since reports emerged of Srinivasan’s comments on the listing of Tata Sons and the representations regarding the composition of SRTT, people in the know said.
“It is a matter of time before these issues are taken up. Once the most pressing matters are addressed, the trustees are likely to deliberate on the representation of the Trusts on the Tata Sons board,” one of the persons cited above said.
Another person said nominee directors are not ordinarily removed, but the trustees could take a tougher view in this instance given the developments of the past few months.
More immediate matters before the trusts include nominating a joint representative of SRTT and the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT) for the Tata Sons AGM, jointly nominating members to the selection committee that will choose N Chandrasekaran’s successor as Tata Sons chairman, and approving grants and accounts.
Governance Protocol
Tata Trusts’ nominee directors do not have fixed tenures on the Tata Sons board. However, under a resolution passed in October 2024, trustee nominee directors above the age of 75 are subject to an annual review. It was during such a review in September 2025 that Vijay Singh failed to secure the unanimous support required for his reappointment to the board of the Tata group holding company.
Srinivasan is a few months short of turning 74 and, therefore, does not come under the annual review requirement. His position, however, could still be reconsidered separately by the trusts in light of the developments of the past few months, people familiar with the matter said.