NCLAT Rejects RoC Plea To Modify Tata-Mistry Judgment

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal has rejected the plea by the Registrar of Companies (RoC) to modify the appellate tribunal judgment in the Tata-Mistry case.

In its December 18, 2019 verdict, the NCLAT had termed the RoC's decision to allow conversion of Tata Sons from public to private as “illegal” and the RoC had filed a plea before the NCLAT to remove the word “illegal” from its verdict, among other observations.

The two-judge bench headed by NCLAT Chairman Justice S J Mukhopadhaya observed that the judgment did not cast any aspersions on the RoC. The NCLAT bench had reserved its order in the matter recently saying that it would clarify that its order terming RoC decision to allow Tata Sons to convert itself from public company to a private company as ‘illegal’ did not cast any aspersion on the RoC.

Justice Mukhopadhaya stated that the NCLAT can only clarify and not change the judgment, adding that the Supreme Court, being the highest judicial authority can change the judgment if it found it to be incorrect.

In its verdict, NCLAT had ordered the reinstatement of Cyrus Mistry as the Tata Sons' Chairman and also directed the RoC to enlist the company as a “public company”.

However, Tata Sons has moved the Supreme Court against the NCLAT judgment.