Four trustees of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust—Noel Tata, Darius Khambata, Bhaskar Bhat and Neville Tata—made their charge after a September 30 letter from vice‑chairmen Venu Srinivasan and Vijay Singh. They accused the pair of breaching fiduciary duties and undermining the Trust’s position against listing Tata Sons, calling the letter a direct challenge to a September 28 proposal to merge two subsidiaries into a holding company.
The trustees argue that every decision must arise from collective deliberation. They claim the vice‑chairmen’s “epiphany” in April 2026—seeing a listing as good for Tata Sons and its minority shareholders—was aired in the media instead of with co‑trustees, thereby violating fiduciary norms.
Earlier this month, the Trust had met three times after Tata Sons board asked it to explore options to comply with RBI’s September 11 communication. On September 16, the Trust passed a resolution requiring Srinivasan not to vote on any listing item; he declined, asserting that the Trust could not dictate his judgment as a director. At the September 17 board meeting, he voted to reappoint Chandrasekaran as chairman without a selection committee recommendation, effectively overriding the Trust’s own nominee.
Srinivasan and Singh filed identical complaints with the Charity Commissioner on September 25, seeking to bar the Trust from holding meetings and to restrict Noel Tata’s voting rights at Tata Sons. The trustees claim they received copies of these complaints from the Commissioner's office on October 1 and that the filings were never shared with co‑trustees.
The trustees dismiss the claim that the merger proposal jeopardises their charitable status, noting that the 66% stake is the Trust’s principal asset and that safeguarding it is a matter of stewardship, not business.
Now the trustees are preparing to file a formal counter‑complaint with the Charity Commissioner in the coming weeks, aiming to challenge the allegations and protect their stake in Tata Sons.