Cyrus Mistry on Monday moved the Supreme Court seeking deletion of remarks against him in the apex court’s March 2021 judgment that upheld his ouster as the chairman of Tata Sons in October 2016.
Senior counsel Janak Dwarkadas, appearing for Mistry, told a bench led by Chief Justice NV Ramana “this is an application to expunge certain remarks which affect my reputation, integrity and character”. However, senior counsel Harish Salve, appearing for Tatas, objected to Mistry’s plea, saying “we have serious objections to the maintainability (of this application)”.
The CJI subsequently posted the matter for hearing after 10 days.
Mistry in his application said that the remarks in the SC’s March 26, 2021 order on his conduct were “unwarranted and unjustified and not necessary for the decision rendered, particularly as the impugned judgement has held that the justification for removal of a diretor, cannot be gone into…”
Mistry said that that various remarks by the SC “are unwarranted, especially where the impugned judgment has declared the removal of a director can never be oppressive. One would have expected such remarks to be found in the Tatas press statement but for the nation’s highest court to lend its judicial imprimatur to them, is unwarranted and a departure from what the SC has held are the hallmarks of a judicial order – sobriety, moderation and restraint”.
These “sweeping” observations of “personal nature” were “neither necessary nor germane” to the issue decided in the judgment and had “virtually declared Mistry unfit to hold any office,” the application stated.