Darius Khambata declines another Tata Trusts term

Senior advocate Darius Khambata will not seek another term as a trustee of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust or the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, and has used his departure letter to criticise Tata Sons’ board and its handling of regulatory discussions over a possible listing. Khambata informed Tata Trusts chairman Noel Tata and chief executive Siddharth Sharma of his decision. His term at the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust ends November 9; his term at the Sir Ratan Tata Trust also expires this month. He said he had accepted the trusteeships at the invitation of the late Ratan Tata in 2018 and did not want to seek the consent of all other trustees required for reappointment, because doing so could compromise his independence. In the letter, Khambata described the Tata Sons board’s September 17 decisions as damaging to the company’s reputation and the image of corporate India. The board voted to reappoint N Chandrasekaran as chairman and proceed with a listing, according to reports of the meeting. Khambata questioned whether the board would have acted in the same way had Ratan Tata been alive. Those are Khambata’s assessments; the letter does not establish that the board’s actions were improper or...