This is what senior advocate Harish Salve, who is advising Chandrasekaran in the ongoing contest, had to tell NDTV today. The ongoing row in Tatas is not a Noel Tata versus N Chandrasekaran or even philanthropy versus going public, it is just the government putting Tata Sons on notice that they have to list themselves.
“The Tata Trust people have shifted focus to the board meeting instead of the real issue, which is bothering them… That is where a new set-up begins: “If you list yourself, you have an IPO. The ongoing tussle, the other side has also indicated, is about more than chairmanship. It is ethics and the company’s legacy of philanthropy that’s at stake.
Asked if this was a fight over whether Chandrasekaran gets another five years or if the group is in the middle of a much larger struggle over future ownership, governance and control, Salve said Tata Trust is a 270 billion dollar empire which is a national asset. So “it is a recognition that a group of trustees who were hoping to control this 270 billion dollar empire have suddenly been put to notice by the government that sorry, that’s not how it works.
“Our economy will be affected if something happens to Tata Sons,” he said. You have to list yourself,” he said. Salve said today the “real issue” is different. The Tata Trust is against the listing of the company,” he said. “If the RBI says go list yourself, there is no use saying my shareholders don’t agree. With that IPO everything will get sorted out,” Salve said.
