A day after Cyrus Mistry resigned from six Tata companies, Max Group founder Analjit Singh, who was supporting the ousted chairman, resigned from the board of Tata Global Beverages Ltd (TGBL), the company announced on Tuesday.
TGBL in a stock market disclosure said that Singh resigned as the non-executive independent director of the firm with immediate effect.
Darius Pandole, head of the private equity unit of JM Financial Ltd, who was also supporting Mistry also resigned as the non-executive independent director of the board of TGBL.
Singh was one of the three directors on the board who had opposed a resolution moved by the promoter Tata Sons seeking the removal of Mistry as the company's chairman.
An email query to Max Group for their official comment did not elicit any immediate response at the time of filing this report.
On the same day that Singh tendered his resignation, Mistry initiated legal proceedings against Tata Sons. Through his investment firms Cyrus Investment Pvt Ltd and Sterling Investment Corporations Pvt Ltd, Mistry filed a petition in the National Company Law Tribunal against Tata Sons, interim chairman Ratan Tata and other directors. The matter is likely to be taken up by the court on December 22.
On November 15, Tata Global Beverages became the second group company to remove Cyrus Mistry as chairman and appointed non-executive director Harish Bhat in his place. Tata Global said that seven out of the 10 directors had voted for Mistry’s removal.
Independent directors on the boards of some group companies including Tata Chemicals, Tata Motors and Indian Hotels have, however, backed Mistry in a battle that has taken India Inc. by storm.
Tata Sons had sacked Mistry on 24 October and named Ratan Tata, his predecessor, as the interim chairman. The holding company of the $100 billion conglomerate had been trying since then to remove Mistry from group firms.
Mistry had initially refused to step down from individual companies and also rallied support from some independent directors such as Nusli Wadia. His departure was followed by a bitter public battle between him and Tata Sons, and his resignation indicates the fight is likely to continue.
In a televised address following his resignation, Mistry said that Ratan Tata had “staged a coup†by ousting him and that the reasons for the move were still unclear to him. He added that he was taking his fight to the public and said he was not ruling out legal action.
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