A local court in Mumbai has summoned the top officials of the Tata Group— the present chairman N Chandrasekaran, eight directors of the group and also Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus Ratan N Tata, in a defamation case filed by Nusli Wadia, the chairman of the Wadia Group.
Wadia had filed a criminal defamation complaint against Ratan Tata in December 2016. Ratan Tata was the interim Chairman of Tata Sons at that time.
To the complaint, Tata Sons replied on email denying the allegations: “The removal of Mr. Nusli Wadia as the independent director of Tata Companies…All due processes were followed in relation to his removal. Tata Sons had, in an exercise of its statutory rights, validly issued a ‘Special Notice’ seeking his removal. While Mr. Wadia has alleged that the contents of the Special Notice were defamatory, the matter is currently sub-judice and Tata Sons strongly denies such allegations.”
Advocate Abad Ponda, the counselor for Wadia told the court that several defamatory statements were made against Mr. Wadia after the removal of Cyrus Mistry as the chairman of theTata Group.
He stated, “The statements by Tata Group included that Wadia was acting against the interests of the group and was acting in concert with the former manager designed to cause harm to the Tata Group despite being an independent director on the Board of a few Tata companies.”
He added, “Tata Sons had also accused Wadia of acting without bonafides and putting the future of Tata Steel and its employees in grave jeopardy.”
The next hearing is scheduled for March 25, 2019.