Tata fiasco: Wadia on his side, Mistry stays Tata Motors chairman

In another twist to the ongoing war between the sacked chairman and Tata Sons, independent directors of Tata Motors backed chairman Cyrus Mistry in a board meeting of the automotive company on Monday.

In a letter signed by the company secretary, H K Sethna, the company informed BSE that the independent directors have confirmed that all decisions taken by the Board with regard to the strategy, operations and business of the company have been unanimous and executed by the chairman and the management accordingly.

"The independent directors have further affirmed that the company continues to be governed, supervised and managed under the guidance and direction of the Board. The management of the Company and its subsidiaries have the full confidence and support of the independent directors," the letter reads.

On Sunday, two unions of Tata Motors representing around 16,000 employees had written to the management expressing their support to Ratan Tata in the ongoing spat with ousted Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry.

In a letter to Tata Motors CEO and managing director Guenter Butschek, Tata Motors Employees Union, Pune expressed "deep concern" over the rift between Tata Sons and the leadership of Tata group companies. "Moreover, the once cordial relations between Tata Motors Pune plant management and the employees have taken a downward turn since the last 14 months over various negotiable issues," said the letter in a dig at the company's leadership under Mistry's chairmanship

In another letter to the plant head of Tata Motors's Jamshedpur unit, Telco Workers Union termed Ratan Tata as "our another great leader" and invoked his saying "if you want to walk fast walk alone but if you want to walk far walk together" to express their support.

Last week, Tata Sons, which holds 26.51% stake in Tata Motors, asked the owner of Jaguar Land Rover to convene an extraordinary general meeting of the company to consider its resolution seeking removal of Chairman Cyrus Mistry and independent director Nusli Wadia.

As per a PTI report, Tata Sons also has served notices to IHCL, Tata Steel and Tata Chemicals to convene shareholders meetings to oust Mistry and Wadia from their boards. The boardroom battle in the Tata group has escalated ever since Mistry was ousted on October 24. The Ratan Tata camp has been trying to evict Cyrus Mistry from the chairmanship of group companies and has already fired him as chairman of TCS. However, Mistry with the support of independent directors, including Nusli Wadia, has been able to hold on to his position of chairman of Indian Hotels Co Ltd and Tata Chemicals.