A board meeting of Sir Ratan Tata Trust scheduled for Friday (May 8, 2026) to reconsider nominations to the board of Tata Sons was cancelled for unspecified reasons, people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The meeting was cancelled despite the Bombay High Court declining to stay the meeting of Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT), which owns 23.6% of Tata Sons, the holding company of the over $180 billion Tata Group.

“The meeting did not happen. No reason was specified,” one of the persons said.

No new date for the meeting has yet been informed. An emailed query to Tata Trusts did not elicit a response.

A petition had challenged the meeting, citing that the trust’s current board composition breached statutory limits introduced under the Maharashtra Public Trust (Second Amendment) Act, 2025.

It cited that SRTT currently has six trustees and three of them — Jimmy Naval Tata, Jehangir HC Jehangir, and Noel Naval Tata — are lifetime trustees, constituting 50% of the board, exceeding the statutory ceiling of 25%.

The proposed meeting of the board of SRTT was reportedly called to discuss, among others, the reconsideration of Tata Trusts representatives on the Tata Sons board.

At present, Tata Trusts Chairman Noel Tata and Vice-Chairman Venu Srinivasan are on the board of Tata Sons. Last year, former defence secretary Vijay Singh had resigned from the Tata Sons board.

The Friday (May 8, 2026) board meeting was planned amid two trustees — Mr. Srinivasan and Mr. Singh — publicly recommending the listing of Tata Sons, a stand that Noel Tata is totally against.

The simmering tension among trustees of the congregation of philanthropic bodies under the Tata Trust umbrella that control 66 per cent in Tata Sons has been continuing since last year.

Earlier in January this year, a proposed board meeting of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT), which was supposed to take up the appointment of Neville Tata, son of Tata Trusts Chairman Noel Tata, as a trustee, was cancelled due to lack of quorum.

A proposed board meeting of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT), which was supposed to take up the appointment of Neville Tata, son of Tata Trusts Chairman Noel Tata, as a trustee on Saturday (January 17, 2026) is understood to have been cancelled due to lack of quorum.

The cancellation of the meeting comes over two months after the failure of the first attempt to induct Neville Tata on the board of SRTT, which holds 23.6% in Tata Sons, the promoter holding firm of the over USD 180 billion Tata Group.

“All trustees could not attend, which is a requirement for trustee appointment,” a person with direct knowledge of the development said.

The meeting could be rescheduled in the next few days, the person added.

However, others said the cancellation could be to take more time for discussion among the trustees to reach a consensus on the appointment.

Query to Tata Trusts remained unanswered.

The trustees of SRTT are Noel Tata, Venu Srinivasan, Vijay Singh Jimmy N Tata, Jehangir HC Jehangir and Darius Khambata.

In November last, Neville Tata and former group company leader Bhaskar Bhat were appointed to the Sri Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT), which owns 28% in Tata Sons. However, they couldn’t be appointed to the SRTT, which holds 23.6 per cent in Tata Sons. Other Tata-affiliated trusts own 13.8 per cent in Tata Sons.

It was apparently because of an objection raised by Venu Srinivasan.

Srinivasan, who was unanimously made lifelong trustee in October 2025, had to witness his appointment revisited “in compliance with legal and regulatory requirements”.

The Maharashtra government had in September 2025 amended the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act, thereby limiting the number of lifetime trustees to one-fourth of the board strength and mandated fixed terms where trust deeds are silent.