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Ratan Tata justifies removal of Cyrus Mistry; says it was ‘absolutely necessary’

Cyrus Mistry says Tata was in loop over dispute with NTT DoCoMO

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L to R: Cyrus Mistry & Ratan Tata
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After a festive breather, Tata Sons interim chairman Ratan Tata and ousted chairman Cyrus Mistry resumed their public spat on Tuesday with former writing to his employees that a change in leadership was “absolutely necessary” for the future success of the Tata Group.

“The decision to change the leadership of Tata Sons was a well-considered and serious one for its Board members. This difficult decision, made after careful and thoughtful deliberation, is one the Board believes was absolutely necessary for the future success of the Tata Group,” wrote Tata to his employees.

Mistry was unceremoniously unseated as the chairman of the holding company of the salt-to-software group last week by Tata Sons Board, citing breach of “Tata values and culture”.

The Tata patriarch’s letter was shot off shortly after Mistry’s office issued a statement saying the “insinuations” that he “acted on his own and contrary to Tata values” in the Tata-DoCoMo stake sale dispute were “baseless”.

Tata justified his return to the helm of the group for “maintaining stability and continuity of leadership” and assured that a “world-class” leader would be appointed to take over the reins soon.

The 78-old-year chairman, who had stepped down as chairman in December 2014, asked leaders of group companies to focus on their profit margins and their market position; “The focus has to be on “leading’’ rather than “following’’.

Earlier in the day, a statement issued by Mistry’s office refuted Tata Sons’s claim that his handling of DoCoMo issue was not consistent with “Tata culture and values”.

“Insinuations that the DoCoMo issue was handled under the watch of Mr Mistry in a manner inconsistent with Tata culture and values are baseless,” said the note.

A Tata spokesperson said, “Insinuations were imaginary”.

The statement also termed called the allegations against him by Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata group, as “false” and “mischievous”.

“To suggest that Mr Mistry acted on his own, or contrary to Tata values”, or without the knowledge and/or concurrence of Ratan Tata and (N A) Soonawala (Trustee), is as false as it is mischievous,” it stated.

Mistry refused to take full responsibility of Tata Teleservices Ltd’s deal with NTT DoCoMo, which has gone awry with an arbitration award of $1.17 billion.

“A number of discussions on the DoCoMo situation had been held in the Tata Sons Board. Mr Mistry had always mentioned that the Tatas should honour all the commitments within the law. This stance is based on Tata Sons’ board view and was always consistent with the series of board meetings in which the DoCoMo issue was discussed,” defended Mistry in the statement.

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