Tata Trusts: Bai Hirabai Trust To Seek Changes In Restrictive Trustee Criteria

Tata Trusts announced on Sunday that the trustees of the Bai Hirabai Trust have resolved to approach the appropriate authority to seek changes to certain restrictive provisions. These include clauses that currently bar non-Zoroastrians from serving as trustees and other eligibility conditions tied to trustee appointments.

This move follows a recent complaint by Mehli Mistry, a former Tata Trusts trustee, who challenged the inclusion of industrialist Venu Srinivasan and former defence secretary Vijay Singh on the board of the Bai Hirabai Jamsetji Tata Navsari Charitable Institution.

Mistry argued that both appointees fail to meet the requirements specified in the trust deed, such as adherence to the Parsi Zoroastrian faith and residency criteria mandating that trustees be based in Mumbai.

Earlier this month, Srinivasan, a trustee of Tata Trusts, resigned from the Bai Hirabai Trust citing other business commitments but later admitted to stepping down at the request of Tata Trusts management.

In a statement, Tata Trusts said the Board of Trustees of the Bai Hirabai Trust met on April 17, 2026 under the Chairmanship of Noel N Tata, Chairman, Tata Trusts.

The trustees, while reviewing the activities of the Bai Hirabai Trust, deliberated on the recent statements appearing in sections of the press relating to the Trust, it said.

"In order to correct anomalies in the Trust Deed and to align it with the values that the Tata Trusts have always epitomised, the trustees have decided to adopt proceedings before the appropriate authority for alteration of restrictive clauses in respect of eligibility of trustees," the statement said.

In the meeting, the trustees were categorical in emphasising that the Tata ethos has always been inclusive, secular and all-encompassing and focussed on philanthropy and service to the nation, it added.

"Non- Zoroastrians have been continuously appointed to the Trust since the year 2000, following a legal opinion obtained from a former Chief Justice of India. The trustees noted that Bai Hirabai is a non-shareholding trust with a minimal asset base and limited activities," Tata Trusts said.

The Trusts noted that Bai Hirabai Trust was created under the 1916 Codicil to the will of Sir Ratan Tata who died in 1918. The Codicil did not provide for any restrictions in respect of trustees on grounds of ethnicity, race or religion.

The Codicil further provided that the trustees of the will of Sir Ratan Tata, who were also trustees of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT) - a trust created by his Will - would also be trustees of the Bai Hirabai Trust, it added.

In 2015, the objects of the Bai Hirabai Trust were enlarged to also cover the general public as beneficiaries of the activities of the trust, the statement said.

"There are no such restrictions as to qualifications for trusteeship of SRTT nor of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT) nor of any other Tata Trust," it asserted.

Nonetheless, Tata Trusts said,"It is a fact that the Trust Deed made in 1923 by the then trustees, contained restrictive clauses that, amongst other things, prohibited non-Zoroastrians from being trustees of the Bai Hirabai Trust. These provisions imposed restrictions not provided for by Sir Ratan Tata's Codicil." Tata Trusts also said the trustees reiterated their full faith and confidence in its Chief Executive Officer Siddharth Sharma and his administrative stewardship of the Tata Trusts.

Sharma had come under spotlight as media reports stated that he had asked Srinivasan and Singh to step down from the board of Bai Hirabai Trust at Noel Tata's behest following objections raised by Mehli Mistry. 

(With PTI inputs)

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