New Delhi:The Bombay High Court is set to hear a legal challenge concerning alleged unlawful share transfers linked to the Tata conglomerate, with the matter listed before a division bench comprising Justice Advait Sethna and Justice Sandesh Patil later today.

The case stems from a legal notice issued on behalf of Suresh Tulsiram Patilkhede by advocate Katyayani Agrawal to ten individuals connected to the Tata Group, including Tata Trusts Chairman Noel Tata and Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran. The notice alleges that a series of transfers involving shares held by charitable trusts linked to the Tata family were carried out unlawfully and caused financial loss to the trusts and their beneficiaries.

At the centre of the dispute is a January 1989 transfer of 833 equity shares of Tata Sons held by Navajbai Ratan Tata Trust (NRTT) to Naval Tata, father of the late Ratan Tata and Noel Tata. According to the notice, the shares were transferred without any monetary consideration just days after Naval Tata resigned as a trustee of NRTT.

The notice claims there was no board resolution authorising the transfer and no evidence that the trust benefited from relinquishing the shares, making the transaction legally untenable.

The shares had originated with a corpus donation from SRTT in December 1974 — seven days after NRTT was established — and had grown to 833 equity shares following the receipt of bonus shares in 1979. The book value at the time was put at Rs 7.79 lakhs.

The complaint further argues that after Naval Tata’s death in 1993, the shares passed into private family ownership through inheritance by Simone Tata and her children - Ratan, Jimmy and Noel Tata - amounting to an unlawful diversion of trust assets.

It alleges violations of the Companies Act, Tata Sons’ Articles of Association, and the stated objectives of the trust. The notice also flags the involvement of Ratan Tata as a related-party transaction, given his position as one of the settlors of NRTT.

Apart from Noel Tata and Chandrasekaran, the notice also names Neville Tata among the parties served. The complainant has sought restoration of alleged losses within 15 days, failing which civil and criminal proceedings may be initiated.

Anurag Kumar is an Assistant Editor at Times Now, where he leads the News Desk and Business Desk, driving coverage across politics, economy and market...View More

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