It is a major win for Cyrus Mistry in his legal battle against the Tata Sons. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has reinstated him as the executive chairman of the Tata Group. The tribunal also ruled that the appointment of N Chandrasekaran as executive chairman is illegal. However, it has given the Tata Group four weeks to appeal against the order.

Mistry was removed as the Tata Sons chairman in November 2016. He had then moved the NCLT, which was the start of a long protracted legal battle. CNBC-TV18 spoke to Suhas Tuljapurkar, Managing Partner at Legasis, and Corporate Lawyer HP Ranina to decode the judgment.

Tuljapurkar said, "My view is that in a single isolated incidence has resulted in the oppression of a minority then it will be ruled by NCLAT and obviously they have ruled in favour of the Mistry group. The order has been stayed for another 4 weeks. So there is room made available for Tata Group to appeal to the Supreme Court."

According to Ranina, it is a temporary victory for Cyrus Mistry. "We will have to see how soon the Tata Group moves the high court or the Supreme Court. However, for the Supreme Court, tomorrow is the last day, now it will reopen only on January 2, 2020," he observed.

"The last two charges of mismanagement and incurring of losses are very serious and it will completely dent the good reputation of the Tata Group. Many investors will be terribly shocked at this type of decision. To say that you have incurred losses because of mismanagement is a very serious charge, something which was not expected of the Tata Group. That is the real crux of the issue and that is where I think the Supreme Court will have to give a real strong verdict one way or the other, either upholding the NCLAT or to say that the NCLAT was wrong," Ranina added.

First Published:Dec 18, 2019 4:38 PM IST