Bombay HC to hear Tata trustee’s plea on June 25

Mumbai: The Bombay HC said on Wednesday that a petition filed by Tata trustee

R Venkataramanan

against a sessions court order, which had quashed a

defamation case

he had filed against ousted Tata Sons chairperson Cyrus Mistry, raises significant questions of law and posted it for final hearing in June.

The sessions court had in December 2017 dismissed criminal defamation proceedings filed by the Tata trustee against Mistry and others.

The Tata trustee’s counsel Sanjog Parab said that the sessions court had gone beyond its scope in quashing the proceedings before a magistrate when the issue brought in challenge by Mistry was limited. He said that the sessions court had, traversing its scope, even termed contents of Mistry’s post-removal email as “heart touching”. The trustee’s petition wanted the HC to decide the matter at the admission stage.

But counsels Aabad Ponda and Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for Cyrus Mistry and his brother

Shapoorji Mistry

respectively, argued that the matter cannot be disposed of at the stage of admission as several serious questions of law arise in the petition and need thorough consideration. Justice N W Sambre admitted the petition and will hear it on June 25 and decide whether the sessions court can pass orders beyond the scope of the arguments before it.

The sessions court had quashed summons issued last July by the Mumbai magistrate against Cyrus Mistry and others in a criminal defamation complaint filed against them by the Tata trustee. The sessions court on a plea by Mistry, which questioned the legality of the summons, had observed that the subordinate court had not followed a proper procedure of complaint verification mandated by law. Before the sessions court, Mistry’s counsel Ponda had argued that a basic procedure to examine the complainant on oath was not complied with, thus vitiating the magistrate’s order.

Venkataramanan, managing trustee of Tata Trusts, had on June 7 filed the defamation complaint against Cyrus Mistry, Shapoorji Mistry and directors of two of the Mistry family held firms. It was filed in the wake of events that followed Cyrus Mistry’s October 24, 2016,removal as Tata Sons’ chairperson.

Cyrus Investments

and

Sterling Investment Corporation

, the two Mistry family-run companies, had after his “unceremonious removal” moved a company law tribunal against Tata Sons, Ratan Tata, several trustees including Venkataramanan and others, alleging acts of mismanagement and oppression by them. The two companies made the move as minority shareholders of Tata Sons. Venkataramanan is an alumnus of the advanced management programme at the prestigious

Harvard Business School

, and is also a director of AirAsia (India).

A person cannot directly register a criminal case of defamation with the police. To set criminal law in motion, a private complaint has to be filed before a magistrate. The offence of defamation under the Indian Penal Code is punishable with up to two years in jail.