MUMBAI: Former Indian defense secretary Vijay Singh, whose eligibility as a trustee has come under legal challenge, was absent from the board meeting of the Bai Heerabai Jamsetji Tata Navsari Charitable Institution on Friday, the latest sign of a growing governance dispute within India’s most powerful philanthropic network.Former trustee Mehli Mistry had filed a challenge before the Maharashtra Charity Commissioner, questioning the appointment of Singh and Venu Srinivasan as trustees of Bai Heerabai. Mistry cited clauses in the 1923 trust deed that required all trustees to be Parsis and permanent residents of Mumbai, and argued that none of them fulfilled those conditions.Srinivasan, chairman emeritus of TVS Motors, stepped down citing other commitments, but later admitted that he had done so at the request of the Tata Trust management. Singh rejected a similar request. Those present at Friday’s meeting included Chairman Noel Tata, Trustee Darius Khambatta and Jahangir HC Jahangir, the last of whom joined the video conference from Europe. Noel’s older half-brother and fellow trustee Jimmy Tata was again absent. Singh confirmed that he did not attend the meeting. A person familiar with the proceedings said the board also discussed Mistry’s objections and next steps, among other issues.The dispute has exposed deep legal tensions. Both Srinivasan and Singh alleged that the Tata Trusts had withheld from them the legal opinion of former Chief Justice of India MH Kania, who had held that the restrictive eligibility clauses in Bai Hirabai’s trust deed were “bad in law”. That interpretation had earlier allowed the inclusion of former Tata Group director RK Krishnakumar on the board. Tata Trusts said that despite that opinion and previous precedent, appointments of non-Parsis can be challenged under the provisions of the deed, and said that legal opinion cannot become a substitute for judicial declaration. The commissioner has not yet ordered a formal inquiry. Bai Hirabai was honored by Sir Ratan Tata, younger son of Tata Group founder Jamsetji Tata, who gave the institution properties in Mumbai and Navsari, the provenance that provides continued legal strength to its centuries-old work.
