Tata Steel and Tata Motors have called shareholder meetings to vote on the dismissal of Cyrus Mistry, as the holding company continues efforts to expel its ousted chairman from other positions of responsibility within the group.
The meetings have been called at the request of parent group Tata Sons, which holds large minority stakes in both companies.
It comes a day after sister companies Tata Consultancy Services and Indian Hotels Company issued similar announcements.
The disorderly process of Mistry’s eviction has damaged the Tata group’s reputation for governance among many in the Indian business community.
According to the Financial Times, Mistry had proposed for discussion a document outlining corporate governance standards for the group, which implied limits on the strategic influence of his predecessor Ratan Tata for the 24 October board meeting. At this meeting, Mistry’s fellow directors removed him as chairman of Tata Sons, the holding company of India’s largest conglomerate.
The corporate governance document—which, according to the Financial Times, was distributed to directors two weeks before the meeting—set bounds on the Tata Trusts’ participation in key business decisions, which were to be made by the boards of the operating companies.
The board of Tata Sons, which holds large minority stakes in the majority of the listed Tata companies, was entitled to engage with its nominee directors at the operating companies, “not with a view to approve but to provide feedback”, according to the document.