Vijay Singh, former Indian defence secretary, absented himself from the board meeting of the Bai Hirabai Jamsetji Tata Navsari Charitable Institution on Friday. According to reports from The Times of India, Singh confirmed he did not attend the meeting, marking the latest development in an intensifying governance dispute within India's most powerful philanthropic network. The meeting included chairman Noel Tata, trustees Darius Khambata and Jehangir HC Jehangir, with Jehangir joining by video conference from Europe.
The challenge was initiated by Mehli Mistry, a former trustee, before the Maharashtra charity commissioner, questioning the appointments of Singh and Venu Srinivasan as trustees of Bai Hirabai. As reported by The Times of India, Mistry cited clauses in the 1923 trust deed requiring all trustees to be Zoroastrians and permanent residents of Mumbai, arguing that neither of them met those conditions. Srinivasan, chairman emeritus of TVS Motors, stepped down citing other commitments but later acknowledged he had done so at the request of Tata Trusts management, while Singh declined a similar request.
The dispute has exposed a deeper legal tension regarding a legal opinion by former chief justice of India MH Kania, who held that the restrictive eligibility clauses in Bai Hirabai's trust deed were 'bad in law'. According to The Times of India, both Srinivasan and Singh alleged that Tata Trusts had withheld this opinion from them. Tata Trusts stated that irrespective of that opinion and past precedent, appointments of non-Zoroastrians remained open to challenge under the deed's provisions, adding that a legal opinion did not substitute for a judicial pronouncement.
Bai Hirabai was endowed by Sir Ratan Tata, younger son of Tata Group founder Jamsetji Tata, who bequeathed properties in Mumbai and Navsari to the institution. As reported by The Times of India, the provenance gives its century-old deed its continuing legal force. The commissioner has yet to order a formal inquiry into the matter, with the board discussing Mistry's objections and next steps during Friday's meeting.
