Mumbai: Maharashtra’s charity commissioner on Tuesday adjourned until October 15 hearings on objections filed by former Tata Trusts trustee Mehli Mistry against change reports recording his exit from three trusts, after the trusts sought more time to respond.The trusts cited a complicating development: the exit of Vijay Singh from the Sir Ratan Tata Trust and the Bai Hirabai Jamsetji Tata Navsari Charitable Institution, which necessitates amendments to the change reports filed in connection with Mistry’s departure. Singh had been named as reporting trustee in filings recording Mistry’s cessation at SRTT, Bai Hirabai and the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust. With Singh no longer a trustee of SRTT and Bai Hirabai, the trusts must identify a replacement reporting trustee in those filings — though Singh remains reporting trustee in the SDTT filing.Singh’s tenure at SRTT lapsed in August while the trust remained subject to a ban imposed by the commissioner. His trusteeship at Bai Hirabai ceased automatically, as it was linked to his position at SRTT.Change reports are regulatory filings through which public trusts notify the commissioner of board changes, including trustee appointments and cessations.Mistry filed his objections after the trusts declined to renew his trusteeship, raising concerns over governance, alleged violations of trust deeds and conflicts of interest involving certain trustees. At Bai Hirabai, he challenged the eligibility of non-Parsi Zoroastrian trustees, arguing their appointments breached the trust’s 1923 deed restricting membership to Parsis professing the Zoroastrian faith. The trust acknowledged those provisions but defended the appointments, saying non-Zoroastrians had served as trustees since 2000 pursuant to a legal opinion — and said it would seek to amend the deed’s restrictive eligibility clause.
