Mehli Mistry, a former trustee of Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT), has moved the Maharashtra Charity Commissioner after the trust declined to extend his tenure in late 2025.
His petition, filed under Section 22 of the Maharashtra Public Trust Act on June 4 and reviewed by Moneycontrol, raises allegations of governance lapses, conflicts of interest, and questionable decision-making within the institution, and seeks scrutiny of trustee appointments and certain decisions taken after Ratan Tata's death.
This comes as Mistry's petition is a resolution passed unanimously by trustees of SRTT and Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT) on October 17, 2024 — shortly after Ratan Tata's death — to support the reappointment of existing trustees in the interest of continuity. Mistry contends that this understanding was not honoured in his case, and that his non-renewal was arbitrary and at odds with what the trustees had collectively agreed upon.
1 June 2026
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Payments to Srinivasan Under Scrutiny
Beyond the question of his own reappointment, Mistry's petition targets broader governance practices at the trusts. A major portion of the filing concerns remuneration allegedly received by trustee Venu Srinivasan from Tata group companies over several years, citing payments and commissions from Tata Sons, Tata Advanced Systems, Tata Lockheed Martin Aerostructures and Tata Sikorsky Aerospace, which the petition claims exceeded ₹20 crore in aggregate, the report added.
Mistry argues that trustees are obligated to act solely in the interest of the charitable trusts, and that earnings by trustees from Tata group companies — while simultaneously serving as trust nominees on those companies' boards — should have been examined for potential conflicts of interest.
The petition also flags two instances where Mistry alleges that subsequent actions by certain trustees contradicted previously agreed positions.
The first concerns a resolution passed in July 2025, in which the trusts unanimously supported an extension of Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran's tenure, a position Mistry claims some trustees later moved away from.
The second relates to a resolution in which the trusts had agreed to keep Tata Sons unlisted and instead explore an exit route for minority shareholder Shapoorji Pallonji Group, a stance that, according to the filing, certain trustees publicly contradicted thereafter.
What Mistry is Asking for
Through the petition, Mistry has sought the Charity Commissioner's intervention on multiple fronts, including an examination of trustee conduct, independent scrutiny of alleged conflicts of interest and corrective measures to protect the trust's administration.
He has also asked for an independent administrator to be appointed to oversee the trust's affairs until the governance concerns raised in his petition are addressed.
The allegations in the petition are claims made by Mistry before the Charity Commissioner and have not been adjudicated.
