MUMBAI – The parties fighting for control over India’s Tata Group have retained some of the country’s most prominent law firms and advocates, as they dig in for a protracted and high-profile battle.
Both sides are being advised by lawyers who have represented India’s biggest companies, and have also recently hired senior counsel who are among the country’s top litigators, according to people familiar with the matter. While they would rather avoid a lengthy legal fight, they said, the legal firepower being assembled suggests they are preparing for one anyway.
The battle over Tata Sons came to a head last week, after directors voted to extend chairman N. Chandrasekaran’s tenure and move towards a potential public listing, rebuffing Tata Trusts chairman Noel Tata, who wants the holding company to remain private. Tata Trusts, which owns 66 per cent of Tata Sons, called Chandrasekaran’s extension “illegal”, setting up a clash that could ultimately move to the courts.
The rift deepened at the weekend, as Tata Trusts reiterated that the reappointment of Chandrasekaran is void, in its second dissent after the board asked the leader to continue for five more years.
“The resolution to reappoint Mr N. Chandrasekaran as the chairman of Tata Sons, considered at the board meeting on Sept 17, 2026, was not validly passed and has no legal effect,” Tata Trusts said in the statement on the evening of Sept 20. “In the eyes of the law, it is void ab initio (invalid from the beginning).”
Tata Sons and Tata Trust declined to comment on their legal representation.
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, one of India’s largest law firms, has been advising Noel Tata and Tata Trusts for more than a year, according to some of the people. Managing partner Cyril Shroff, who has served as lawyer to most of India’s billionaire business families from the Ambanis to the Adanis, is personally handling the matter, they said, assisted by several senior partners including Indranil Deshmukh.
The team also includes Bharat Vasani, who served as Tata Sons’ group general counsel for more than 17 years before retiring in 2017.
Tata Trusts and Noel Tata have also recently retained top litigators Aspi Chinoy, Janak Dwarkadas, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Mukul Rohatgi. Singhvi has acknowledged his role in a social media post, Rohatgi declined to comment whereas Chinoy and Dwarkadas did not respond to queries.
On the opposing side stands Shuva Mandal, another former Tata Sons group general counsel and a former partner at AZB & Partners, where his clients included Reliance Industries.
While at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, the firm run by Cyril Shroff’s brother, Mandal was a key legal adviser to Tata Sons when its board sacked Cyrus Mistry as chairman in 2016. He later joined the group as general counsel and helped steer the years-long court battle against Mistry that ended with a victory for Tata Sons in 2021.
His Anagram Partners has been representing Tata Sons and Chandra, as the Tata Sons chairman is known, for at least a few months, according to the people.
Senior advocate Harish Salve has also been advising Tata Sons and Chandra, and senior advocate Ravi Kadam has been retained by Tata Sons, the people said. Salve has publicly acknowledged his role and Kadam declined to comment.
In media appearances since Sept 17, Salve argued in favour of listing Tata Sons. It has to “turn into a public company”, he said in one interview. A global institution cannot be run by a few trustees and needs transparency and top professional talent, he has argued.
Singhvi countered publicly on Sept 20. The “fundamental rights of shareholder-owners cannot be nullified in the manner in which they have been”, he wrote on X, referring to Noel Tata being outvoted at the Sept 17 Tata Sons board meeting.
“Rupturing the over hundred years of Tata Trust and Tata Sons established hyphenated relationship and divorcing one from the other seems unthinkable,” Singhvi wrote, offering an early glimpse into how a court battle could play out.
Chandra had helmed the closely held company for a decade, and had signalled openness to the idea of taking it public. But after his reappointment failed to secure unanimity earlier in 2026, he decided to bow out instead of seeking another term.
But in a surprise move, Tata Sons’ directors voted 4-1 to extend his tenure for another five years and planned to move forward with steps towards a public listing – rebuffing Noel’s position and deepening a rift over control and the future of the 158-year-old conglomerate. BLOOMBERG
