MUMBAI: Venu Srinivasan, chairman emeritus of TVS Motor, and Vijay Singh, a former bureaucrat, are set to step down as trustees of the Tata Education and Development Trust (TEDT) from May 11, after fellow trustee Mehli Mistry voted against their reappointments.Trust rules require unanimous consent from all trustees for a reappointment. The departures mark the latest rupture within the inner governance circle of Tata Trusts, the philanthropic edifice that owns 66% of Tata Sons, holding company of India’s largest conglomerate.Srinivasan and Singh each voted in favour of the other’s continuation. But Mehli voted against both, a solitary voice of dissent sufficient to bring their tenures to a close. Fellow trustees Noel Tata, chairman of Tata Trusts, and Jehangir Mistry had not cast votes at the time of writing. Given the unanimity requirement, their ballots cannot alter the outcome.Tata Education and Development Trust (TEDT) will be the second Tata institution from which Venu Srinivasan departs in quick succession. In April, he exited the Bai Hirabai Trust following a complaint by Mehli Mistry to the Maharashtra charity commissioner alleging that the deed, which stipulates that trustees must be practising Zoroastrians, was being violated. Vijay Singh, who is also a trustee of that body, did not resign.Following Monday’s changes, TEDT will be left with three trustees — Noel and Mehli remain as permanent appointments while Jehangir, who holds a fixed term, continues until it expires next year.Separately, the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT) and Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT) filed caveats in the Bombay high court and with the charity commissioner on Monday, days before scheduled board meetings on Friday, seeking to ensure no ruling is given against them without first hearing their case.Friday’s meetings are expected to centre on the future of Srinivasan on the Tata Sons board amid deepening tensions with Noel over whether to pursue a public listing of the holding company.The caveats come amid a separate legal challenge to the trusts’ governance. Katyayani Agrawal, an advocate at SV & Co, had filed a complaint with the commissioner alleging that the current SRTT board composition breaches a 2025 amendment to the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act; she has called for an inquiry.SRTT, however, maintains it is legally compliant, arguing that the amendment operates prospectively, as is standard unless a statute explicitly states otherwise.Meanwhile, InGovern Research has called on independent directors of seven listed Tata companies to press for a public listing of Tata Sons, warning that the boards risk failing in their fiduciary duty to minority shareholders. The listed entities collectively hold 12% in Tata Sons, carried at historical cost for over three decades. InGovern has urged periodic revaluations to reflect fair market value. The corporate advisory firm has argued that the rationale for retaining these cross-holdings has long rested on a pledge from the late Ratan Tata’s tenure.In 1995, amid scrutiny over brand-fee arrangements and capital flows, the Tata Sons leadership signalled that investing group capital in the holding company was a long-term bet promising “tremendous appreciation” once listed. “For more than thirty years, this vision of an eventual IPO has been the standard defence whenever the topic of liquidity or holding company discounts arose,” InGovern said. “Yet, as of May 2026, that promise remains unfulfilled.”
