New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday asked Nusli Wadia and Ratan Tata to talk to Ratan Tata to settle the the criminal defamation case filed by Wadia against Tata, Tata Sons' chairman N Chandrasekaran and eight directors.
Chief Justice S A Bobde insisted this is the court's view as it is not on law in this matter. Wadia had initiated defamation proceedings after his removal as an independent director in a Tata company after Cyrus Mistry was removed as the chairman. Justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant were the two other judges on the Bench.
Offering to broker peace between Wadia and Tata on Wadia's counsel, C A Sundaram sought to withdraw the case if Tata withdraws the allegations, the CJI suggested that the Apex Court may approve the findings of the Bombay High Court that Tata had no intention to defame Wadia.
The Bombay High Court had last July quashed proceedings initiated by a city court against Tata and others on the criminal defamation case filed by Wadia.
Tata and others had filed to quash the case filed by Wadia in 2016 after he were voted out of the boards of some Tata Group companies.
In December 2018, a magistrate court in Mumbai had issued notices to Ratan Tata and others in the defamation suit filed by Wadia.
Meanwhile, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) that had restored Mistry's chairmanship of the Tata Group last month dismissed on Monday a petition by the Registrar of Companies (RoC) to modify its judgment. A 2-member NCLAT said: "There is no ground to amend the judgment dated December 18 since it does not cast any aspersions on the ROC.
The Tribunal had not only reinstated Cyrus Mistry as the exechtive chairman of the Tota Group but also held as "illegal" the ROC ruling that allowed conversion of Tata Sons from a public company to private one. Tata Sons and its chairman Ratan Tata have last week separately moved the Supreme Court against the NCLAT order. The RoC has sought to implead itself as a party in the two petitions to quash the Tribunal's order to convert Tata Sons as a public company.
