A new governance debate has surfaced within the Tata philanthropic network after Mehli Mistry, a trustee of the Tata Education and Development Trust (TEDT), raised concerns about the continuation of the vice-chairman role across Tata Trusts, arguing that the position has no provision in the original Trust Deed, according to people familiar with the discussions.
The issue was brought up during a TEDT meeting held ahead of a routine gathering of the Tata Trusts board at Mumbai’s World Trade Centre on Wednesday. Mistry is understood to have said that the vice-chairman post was created during a period when late industrialist Ratan Tata was deeply engaged in a legal dispute with Cyrus Mistry, and that with a chairman now firmly in place, the designation had outlived its functional relevance.
However, individuals close to the matter indicated that Mistry’s observations carry limited institutional weight because he no longer serves as a trustee on the two principal holding entities, Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust, which together control a majority stake in Tata Sons. One senior official said the matter was raised only within TEDT and that any decision on such structural questions rests with the chairman of Tata Trusts.
The current trustees of Tata Education and Development Trust include chairman Noel Tata, Vijay Singh, Venu Srinivasan, Jehangir Mistry, and Mehli Mistry. Although Mehli Mistry continues to hold positions on the boards of TEDT, Tata Medical Centre in Kolkata, and Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai, his reappointment to the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust was not approved by a majority of trustees in October last year.
The latest exchange underscores lingering friction within the trusts following a September 2025 controversy that led to the departure of several trustees, including Mehli Mistry, amid sharp internal differences over governance and direction. Tata Trusts declined to comment on the recent developments.
The vice-chairman structure itself dates back to 2018, when Tata Trusts announced the appointments of former defence secretary Vijay Singh and TVS Motor chairman Venu Srinivasan as vice-chairmen across multiple trusts. Sources told Economic Times that Singh has since expressed willingness to relinquish the title, noting that it does not confer any special authority or privileges, while Srinivasan has maintained that a collective view among the trusts would be needed before any change is made.
TEDT, established roughly a decade ago, manages an estimated corpus of about Rs 5,000 crore and focuses on higher education initiatives, scholarships, and institutional capacity building, making it one of the key philanthropic vehicles within the wider Tata Trusts ecosystem even as questions over governance structures continue to unfold.
