NCLAT orders reinstatement of Cyrus Mistry as Chairman of Tata Sons
New Delhi, Dec 18: In a big win for Cyrus Mistry, a company law appeals court on Wednesday restored him as executive chairman of Tata Sons and ruled that appointment of N Chandrasekaran as head of the holding company of over USD 110 billion salt-to-software conglomerate was illegal.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) held that the group's chairman emeritus Ratan Tata's actions against Mistry were oppressive and the appoint of the new chairman illegal. It, however, stayed the operation of the order with respect to reinstatement for four weeks to allow Tatas to appeal.
Setting aside a lower court order, the NCLAT also quashed the conversion of Tata Sons into a private company from a public firm. It also directed Tata Sons not to take any action against Mistry, whose family owns some 18 per cent interest in Tata Sons.
The remaining 81 per cent is held by Tata Trusts and Tata Group companies along with Tata family members.
Mistry, scion of the wealthy Shapoorji Pallonji family, had in December 2012 succeeded Ratan Tata as the Executive Chairman of Tata Sons, a post that also made him the head of all Tata group listed firms such as Tata Power and Tata Motors. In an overnight coup, he was removed as the Chairman of Tata Sons in October 2016. Along with him, the entire senior management too was purged and Ratan Tata was back at the helms of affairs four years after he took retirement.
Mistry challenged the removal before the Mumbai bench of National Company Law Tribunal but lost and then went in for appeal at the NCLAT.
Tatas had cited alleged failure of Mistry to "deliver on the promises that he had made at the time of his selection as the Chairman" and inability to lead the group in a cohesive manner and failure in providing proper guidance and support to the group as the reasons for his sacking.
Mistry had contended that he was removed because of his "efforts to remedy past acts of mismanagement", for resisting interference of Ratan Tata and for instituting a formal governance framework to regulate the role of the Tata Trusts. The "legacy hotspots" included shutting down the small car Nano project; cutting losses with expensive decisions in firms such as Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL) and Tata Teleservices Ltd; and Air Asia fraud.
While Mistry termed the NCLAT judgment as "victory for the principles of good governance and minority shareholder rights", Tata Sons said the NCLAT order appears to have gone beyond the specific reliefs sought by Mistry and it was not clear as to how the NCLAT order seeks to over-rule the decisions taken by shareholders of Tata Sons and listed Tata operating companies at validly constituted shareholder meetings.
"The proceedings of the sixth meeting of the Board of Directors of Tata Sons Ltd held on Monday, October 24 2016 so far as it relates to removal and other actions taken against Cyrus Pallonji Mistry is declared illegal and is set aside. In the result, Cyrus Pallonji Mistry is restored to his original position as Executive Chairman of Tata Sons Ltd and consequently as Director of the Tata companies for rest of the tenure," the NCLAT said in its order.
As a sequel thereto, the appointment of Chandrasekaran, who replaced Mistry, "is declared illegal," it said.
The NCLAT ordered Ratan N Tata and the nominee of the Tata Trusts to "desist from taking any decision in advance which requires majority decision of the Board of Directors or in the Annual General Meeting".
Also, the company, its Board of Directors and shareholders were ordered not to exercise power under Article 75 against Mistry.
Powers under Article 75 had not been exercised since inception and "can be exercised only in exceptional circumstances and in the interest of the company, but before exercising such power, reasons should be recorded in writing and intimated to the concerned shareholders whose right will be affected, it said.
Mistry was the sixth chairman of Tata Sons and had a tenure up to March 2017. The NCLAT order gives him five more months at the helm of Tata Sons if the said order is not stayed or overturned by the Supreme Court.
Declaring the decision of the Registrar of Companies to change character of Tata Sons from public company to private one as "illegal", NCLAT asked the RoC to correct records to show the company as public company.
The court also stated that some observations in the July 9, 2018 judgment passed by the NCLT were "inappropriate and avoidable".
These included appreciating activities of Tata Sons and highlighting its products, which had no bearing on merits of the case, it said, adding certain observations against Mistry were "undesirable and based on extraneously sourced material not on record".
Stating that such observations cast "impact on the reputation" of Mistry, the NCLAT expunged those remarks while setting aside the July 9, 2018 Judgment of NCLT, Mumbai.
After the judgment was pronounced, Tata Sons counsel prayed for suspension of part of the judgment reinstating Mistry.
"With a view to ensure smooth functioning of the company, while we are not inclined to suspend the Judgment pronounced today in its totality, but suspend the part of the Judgment so far as it relates to replacement of the present Executive Chairman and reinstatement of Mistry for a period of four weeks," the NCLAT said. "Rest of the Judgment and Directions including the direction to reinstate Cyrus Pallonji Mistry as Director of the company and directors of three Tata companies shall be complied forthwith."
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Indigo fiasco: B'luru airport suffers disruptions; over 102 services cancelled, KIAL issues advisory
Bengaluru: IndiGo’s service disruption at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport continued for the fourth consecutive day, leading to the cancellation of over 102 flights on Friday. Many passengers were stranded for more than 12 hours.
According to reports, 52 arrivals and 50 departures were cancelled.
Passengers expressed widespread anger over IndiGo’s lack of proper communication and shared videos and updates on social media highlighting the chaotic situation.
Some users alleged that the airline intentionally cancelled flights to indirectly pressure the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) into rolling back the newly introduced ‘weekly rest’ clause under the Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms.
A user wrote, “An airline that had two years to meet global standards managed to blackmail the government and force a rollback. What about passenger safety and pilot health? The problem is we will keep flying IndiGo because there is no option.”
An airline company that had two years to meet global standards has managed to blackmail the government and forced it to toll back.
What about passenger safety? Pilot health? Problem is we will keep flying indigo because there is no option pic.twitter.com/cpbwf4SM5D
— Snehesh Alex Philip (@sneheshphilip) December 5, 2025
Another commented, “So the blackmail by @IndiGo6E worked. What about the problems faced by passengers? No accountability?”
So the blackmail by @IndiGo6E worked. What about the problems faced by the passengers. No accountability?? pic.twitter.com/9DNxmH8b0I
— CA Brindavan Giri (@BrindavanG) December 5, 2025
The widespread cancellation came owing to pilot and crew crunch after the DGCA introduced crew shortages triggered by the rollout of the new Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms.
A social media user, Nitin Malpani shared a video about this and said, "What are you IndiGo staff doing? We have been at Bangalore airport since 8 pm last night till now. Are you playing with children, elderly and sick people just to change the work schedule of the staff?"
A video of exhausted passengers singing bhajans while waiting at the airport has also gone viral.
Meanwhile, at a time when Indigo cancelled flights to major cities, ticket prices of other airlines sharply surged.
As per reports, the New Delhi–Chennai one-way fare touched nearly ₹66,000, while fares on the Mumbai and Kolkata routes also crossed ₹38,000.
A passenger reported that an Air India ticket from Bengaluru to New Delhi for Saturday evening had risen to nearly ₹34,000, leaving many with no choice but to pay increased prices.
Bengaluru airport issues advisory
In a statement issued on Friday, Bengaluru airport authorities said that IndiGo flights to Mumbai and Delhi had been cancelled and advised passengers to check their flight status directly with the airline before arriving at the airport.
They added that their teams were working with IndiGo and other stakeholders to decrease inconvenience and assist passengers affected by the disruption.
ಇಂಡಿಗೋ ಮೂಲಕ ಕೆಂಪೇಗೌಡ ಅಂತಾರಾಷ್ಟ್ರೀಯ ವಿಮಾನ ನಿಲ್ದಾಣ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನಿಂದ ಪ್ರಯಾಣಿಸುತ್ತಿರುವ ಪ್ರಯಾಣಿಕರು ದಯವಿಟ್ಟು ಈ ಸೂಚನೆಯನ್ನು ಪರಿಶೀಲಿಸಿ. ನಿಮ್ಮ ಸಹಕಾರಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಧನ್ಯವಾದಗಳು.#ಪ್ರಯಾಣಸಲಹೆ #ಇಂಡಿಗೋ #ಕೆಂಪೇಗೌಡಅಂತಾರಾಷ್ಟ್ರೀಯವಿಮಾನನಿಲ್ದಾಣಬೆಂಗಳೂರು #ಬೆಂಗಳೂರುವಿಮಾನನಿಲ್ದಾಣ #ವಿಮಾನ pic.twitter.com/SLV6Nl69B9
— ಕೆಂಪೇಗೌಡ ಅಂತಾರಾಷ್ಟ್ರೀಯ ವಿಮಾನ ನಿಲ್ದಾಣ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು (@blrairport_kn) December 5, 2025
Need a sanitary pad for my daughter !
A video of a distressed father pleading for a sanitary pad for his daughter amid the chaos has gone viral across social media platforms, sparking outrage on social media.
In the video, the man can be heard saying, “My daughter needs a pad. Blood is coming out.” He is also seen repeatedly requesting a female staffer for a sanitary pad, but she allegedly refuses.
The video has gone viral, with strong reactions from netizens.
"Need sanitary pad for my daughter," a visibly angry man could be heard venting at the Indigo crew amid hundreds of flight cancellations leaving passengers, in dire need of basic amenities, stranded for hours. pic.twitter.com/TRlMA27DVS
— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) December 5, 2025
One user wrote, “What kind of airports do we have where even basic emergency services are unavailable?”
What kind of airports we have where we didn't even have basic emergency services.
— Himanshu (@himanshukr2841) December 5, 2025
Another commented, “Welcome to the world’s fourth-largest economy, where one airline brings the aviation ministry to its knees, and ministers get away with zero accountability.”
Welcome to the worlds fourth economy where one airlines brings the aviation ministry to it’s knees @PMOIndia And the ministers get away with zero accountability
— Pintoo Ganguly (@pintooganguly) December 5, 2025
What caused the IndiGo fiasco?
The disruption at India’s largest carrier, which has a control of over 60% of the domestic market comes after crew shortages, which were triggered by the rollout of DGCA’s new Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms.
According to a NDTV report, the airline has said that it expects to completely restore its normal services within three to four days.
However, following chaos at major airports, DGCA rolled back the newly implemented FDTL norms on Friday.
