Sr counsel Khambata quits Dorabji Tata Trust

Senior counsel Darius Khambata stepped down as trustee of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust a day after Tata Sons removed Cyrus Mistry as its chairman.
Confirming to TOI that he had stepped down on October 25, Khambata said his decision preceded Mistry’s removal from the Tata Sons board. “I stepped down to focus on the increasing demands on my time by way of professional commitments,” he said.
Mistry had on October 25 given a long letter expressing his “shock” at being “replaced” and had marked it to Khambata too. Khambata was one of the seven trustees on the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust. Now six are left. When asked, he said that he was not aware if any of the others had also quit. The Harvard Law School-educated Khambata did not wish to comment any further on the issue.
Ratan Tata is the chairman of the Tata Trusts. Its website says that the Trusts comprise Sir Ratan Tata Trust and Allied Trusts, and the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Allied Trusts.
The website names the other trustees on Sir Dorabji Tata Trust as N A Soonawala, Dr Amrita Patel, R K Krishna Kumar, V R Mehta and R Venkataramanan. Soonawala was the financial wizard of Tata Sons and Venkataramanan had served as executive assistant to Ratan Tata when he was the chairman earlier. Venkataramanan is a trustee on all the eight other Trusts, including the Lady Tata Memorial Trust, JRD Tata Trust, Jamsetji Tata Trust, Tata Social Welfare Trust, Tata Education Trust, J N Tata Endowment, RD Tata Trust and The JRD and Thelma J Tata Trust.
It is learnt that the Trusts had held a meeting a day before Mistry’s replacement. As a counsel, Khambata has often appeared for Tata Group companies, including Tata Sons and Tata Power, in court battles. He was also the counsel for Tata Sons in the NTT DoCoMo arbitration matter before the London Court of International Arbitration. Earlier this year, the London Court had passed a $1.17-billion award against Tata Sons.
Khambata on Tuesday said that he continued to hold the brief for Tata Sons. The enforcement proceedings for the arbitral award, filed by DoCoMo before the Delhi HC, is now listed for hearing on December 1, 2016.
Khambata was the additional solicitor general of India and state advocate general. He continues to be a trustee on the M C Chagla Memorial Trust and the H M Seervai Memorial Trust. But according to a person close to the Trusts, these are Trusts that do not make a heavy demand on a trustee’s time.