Cyrus Mistry, the former Tata Group chairman, has passed away in a Mumbai road accident. Mistry, who was an Irish citizen, became a household name when he was first announced as the successor to Ratan Tata. In 2016, Tata Sons, the holding company of Tata Group, had elected to remove Mistry from his position. What ensued was a historic legal battle between the two sides.

In India’s one of the most high-profile and publicly fought corporate battles, the Supreme Court ruled that all the appeals filed by Tata Sons against Cyrus Mistry are allowed. The apex court pronounced its verdict in the cross-appeals filed by Tata Sons Limited and Cyrus Investments against an order by the NCLAT that had restored Cyrus Mistry as the executive chairman of the over $100 million salt-to-software Tata Group after he was ousted in 2016.

Here is all you need to know about the case:

Cyrus Mistry, who took over as the executive chairman of Tata Sons in 2012, was ousted in a board meeting in 2016. 

In 2018, in a ruling by the company’s law tribunal, NCLT, Mistry lost the case, as the court said that Tata Sons had all right to remove Mistry as the executive chairman.

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However, in 2019, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) had restored Cyrus as the executive chairman of the Tata conglomerate, saying his dismissal was ‘illegal.’ The NCLAT order found that the conducts by Tata Sons were in a manner prejudicial and oppressive for the minority shareholders of the companies.

The Shapoorji Pallonji Group of Mistry’s family owns 18.47% of the equity capital of Tata Sons. 

Tata Sons challenged the NCLAT ruling in the Supreme Court in January 2020 saying that decision undermined “corporate democracy” and the “rights” of its board of directors. However, the apex court stayed the NCLAT order, saying that that relief, granted by the appellate tribunal, was not even sought by Cyrus, the ousted chairman.

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In February last year, Cyrus moved to the SC, filed cross-appeals, seeking removal of several anomalies in NCLAT’s order as he said his family, the SP Group, deserved more relief from the tribunal. He also argued in his affidavit in July 2020 that NCLAT was well-within it’s right to reinstate him as the executive chairman.

In September last year, the SP Group, in battle with the Tata conglomerate, sent a legal notice to Tata Sons and its board member seeking damages for “illegally blocking” the Mistry family from raising funds by pledging shares of Tata Sons. 

The Supreme Court started hearing the case in December last year and reserved its verdict on 18th day of that month.