War intensifies: Cyrus Mistry is going to challenge Chandrasekaran's appointment as Tata Sons Chairman

Cyrus Mistry, the former Tata Sons chairman recently opposed the appointment of Natarajan Chandrasekaran as his successor and is said to be preparing to open another legal front challenging the decision

According to the officials, a day before the board of Tata Sons met to consider Chandrasekaran as the chairman last week, Mistry shot off an angry letter to his fellow board members challenging the legality of the appointment.

"Unlike the October board meeting when the decision to sack Mistry was not mentioned in the board agenda circulated before, this time the members were aware of what to expect. Mistry is still a director of Tata Sons and the agenda papers were circulated to him as well. That prompted the mail from him," an official aware of the communications, told ET.

Reportedly, Mistry did not physically attend the board meeting the following day.

Details of Cyrus' possible legal strategy could not be independently verified but for some this could be a potential precursor to a fresh complaint before the court.

Mistry has already challenged the decision in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). In his petition, Mistry alleged collusion between Tata Sons and Tata Trusts and oppression of minority interests at the $103-billion Indian conglomerate.

In his missive to the board members on January 11, Mistry argued that Chandrasekaran's appointment was illegal considering the matter was still sub-judice. Tatas after getting a green signal from their legal advisors decided to proceed with the board meeting.

"The Tata Sons Board meeting held on January 12, 2017 and the appointment of N Chandrasekaran as chairman of Tata Sons have been done as per the company's Articles of Association and relevant laws," a Tata Sons spokesperson told ET.

Sources close to Mistry said that he was not comfortable attending the board meet since the Tatas had violated undertakings given by them in court.

"At this stage, we do not wish to discuss next steps in terms of legal strategy," people close to Mistrytold ET.

Tata Sons lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the tribunal's December 22 directives just meant that no legal action or proceedings could be undertaken by the company, Tata Trusts or the Mistry family firms. Tata Sons was, however, allowed to take company related decisions, he said. By filing the petition, the former chairman is trying to get the tribunal to stop Tata Sons from holding a planned shareholder meeting to oust him as a director, he claimed.