Tata Trusts said it is examining directions issued by the Maharashtra Charity Commissioner asking it to defer a board meeting scheduled for May 16, while maintaining that the order appears to apply only to the Sir Ratan Tata Trust and was issued without giving the trust an opportunity to be heard.
In a statement issued late on Friday, Tata Trusts said an email was received late in the evening forwarding directions from the Charity Commissioner to defer the meeting of the board of trustees. The Trusts said the directive was issued ex parte, without prior notice or a hearing being afforded to the Sir Ratan Tata Trust.
According to the statement, the Charity Commissioner’s direction referred to a complaint filed on April 18 by Katyayani Agrawal concerning the composition of the board of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, a separate representation dated April 28 by trustee Venu Srinivasan, and an order passed by the Bombay High Court on May 13 in a related writ petition.
The complaint by Agrawal alleged that three out of six trustees of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust are permanent trustees, in contravention of Section 30A(2) of the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act, 1950, introduced through a 2025 amendment. The amended provision states that perpetual or life trustees cannot exceed one-fourth of the total number of trustees of a public trust.
However, Tata Trusts said it believed the amendment was prospective in nature and does not apply to appointments of perpetual trustees made before the law came into force on September 1, 2025. The Trusts added that this interpretation is supported by legal opinions and clarifications obtained by them.
The statement also noted that the Bombay High Court had on May 13 disposed of the related writ petition as withdrawn. The petition had sought to restrain the same board meeting of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust based on Agrawal’s complaint.
Tata Trusts further said the Sir Ratan Tata Trust was unaware of any complaint filed by Srinivasan until it received the Charity Commissioner’s directions on Friday. It added that Srinivasan had earlier acknowledged notices for both the original May 8 meeting and the rescheduled May 16 meeting.