Here are events of November 11 that made Nusli Wadia sue Tatas

Chairman of Wadia Group of companies and an independent director of three Tata Group companies namely Tata Steel, Tata Motors and Tata Chemicals, Nusli Wadia, has filed a defamation suit against Ratan Tata and Tata Sons. 

The independent director has filed the case under Section 500 and 109 of the IPC that charges the accused with imprisonment of up to two years and a fine or both.

The prime accused in the case are Tata Sons, Ratan Tata, Ajay Gopikisan Piramal, Amit Ranbir Chandra, Ishaat Hussain, Nitin Nohria, Ranendra Sen, Vijay Singh, Venu Srinivasan, Ralf Speth, N. Chandrasekaran and F. N. Subedar.

In the defamation complaint, Wadia said that he first learnt that Tata Sons had issued the Special Notice seeking his removal as a director from the Board of Tata Steel Ltd on November 11.

“Shortly thereafter, at the meeting of the Board of Directors of Tata Steel Ltd. held on 11th November 2016, the Company Secretary informed the Board that Tata Sons, the principal shareholder, had in terms of Section 169 of the Companies Act, 2013 requested the Board of Tata Steel Ltd. to convene an EGM for the purpose of considering resolutions for the removal of Mr. Mistry and Mr. Nusli Wadia directors,” the complaint read. 

On 10th November 2016, the Independent Directors of Tata Chemicals Ltd. met to review the impact on the company of the removal of Mr. Cyrus P. Mistry as Chairman of Tata Sons and the intense media hype surrounding the same, it said. 

After due deliberation, all the Independent Directors unanimously affirmed their confidence in the Board, its Chairman and the management in the conduct of Tata Chemicals Ltd.’s business.
 
Within hours of the Tata Chemicals Board meeting, the Board of Directors of Tata Sons & its Directors through a circular resolution, inter alia, resolved to submit a requisition to Tata Steel, Tata Motors and Tata Chemicals for convening an EGM of their shareholders for the purpose of passing resolutions for the removal of the Mr. Nusli Wadia and Mr. Cyrus P. Mistry as Directors of the Three Operating Companies. 

Since then, Mistry has resigned from boards of all Tata Group companies and Wadia has removed from boards of Tata Steel and Tata Motors as shareholders voted in support of resolution for his removal. 

At the meeting of the Independent Directors of Tata Steel Ltd. held on November 11, 2016, Mr. Nusli Wadia first learnt that Tata Sons had issued the Special Notice seeking his removal as a director from the Board of Tata Steel Ltd, it said. 

Shortly thereafter, at the meeting of the Board of Directors of Tata Steel Ltd. held on 11th November 2016, the Company Secretary informed the Board that Tata Sons, the principal shareholder, had in terms of Section 169 of the Companies Act, 2013 requested the Board of Tata Steel Ltd. to convene an EGM for the purpose of considering resolutions for the removal of Mr. Mistry and Mr. Nusli Wadia directors. 

On 11th November 2016, Wadia received three separate e-mails from Tata Steel, Tata Chemicals and Tata Motors, forwarding the Special Notices issued by Tata Sons to them. 

"Upon receiving the e-mails and the Complainant going through the same carefully, it became apparent to the Complainant that in addition to the Tata Steel Special Notice, Tata Sons as a shareholder of Tata Chemicals Ltd. and Tata Motors Ltd., at the behest and instance of the Board of Directors of Tata Sons (excluding Cyrus Mistry and Farida Khambatta), had also called upon the Board of Tata Chemicals Ltd. and Tata Motors Ltd., to requisition, under the provisions of Section 169 of the Companies Act, 2013, an EGM, to, inter alia, remove the Complainant as a director of the said companies," the complaint said. 

The present Complaint is filed because the Complainant (Wadia) has been defamed by all Tata Sons and its entire board, the complaint read.