Mistry questions Noel's eligibility for Bai Hirabai trust

MUMBAI: Mehli Mistry, former trustee of the Bai Hirabai Jamsetji Tata Navsari Charitable Institution, has contested Noel Tata's qualification to sit on the same board under the trust's century-old deed, raising questions about his faith, citizenship and residence.In a rejoinder filed before the Maharashtra Charity Commissioner on Thursday, Mistry sought directions requiring Noel to file an affidavit confirming he meets the 1923 deed's criteria: That he is a practising Parsi Zoroastrian and a permanent resident of either Bombay Presidency or Navsari.Mistry alleged that Noel "is not practising the Zoroastrian faith". He also asked for affidavits from every trustee, "especially the former and the current reporting trustee" and offered to file his own.The rejoinder is the sharpest personal challenge to Noel's position at one of the smaller Tata-linked trusts.It follows a reply by Bai Hirabai on Oct 14, which had argued that Mistry had no standing to object to the cessation of his trusteeship.The trust had said: "The objector (Mistry) is a citizen of the UK and not India and a tax resident of the UAE."'Noel is an Irish citizen and tax resident of UAE'Responding to a Bai Hirabai reply on Oct 14, Mehli Mistry said neither the will, codicil nor deed of the trust prescribes any qualification based on citizenship or tax residence. He said he remains a Parsi Zoroastrian with a residence in Colaba, Mumbai. He also said the trust contradicted itself: it argued that the deed's residence requirement was void, yet used his residence against him.Mistry then turned to Noel, the son of Naval Tata, a Parsi, and Simone Tata, a Swiss-born Catholic. He described him as "an Irish citizen, tax resident of UAE, a golden resident visa holder and therefore, a resident of the UAE."Mistry asked for an affidavit stating whether Noel is a tax resident of India. It should also say whether he was an Indian or Irish citizen when appointed, and why his citizenship changed. Mistry said, to the best of his knowledge, Noel's mother held a Swiss passport. He asked whether Noel had held a Swiss passport while holding an Indian one."The trust cannot demand scrutiny of the objector (Mistry) while claiming exemption from the same scrutiny for its own reporting trustee (Noel)," the rejoinder said. It added that the trust "cannot be permitted to approbate and reprobate by selectively relying upon the provisions of the trust deed".Similarly, Venu Srinivasan and Vijay Singh, he alleged, are neither Zoroastrians nor permanent residents of Bombay Presidency or Navsari. They and Noel were the trustees who rejected his reappointment. "How can a change be recognised when the very persons who voted upon it were themselves not legally entitled to do so?" he asked.Singh filed the original change report, giving a New Delhi address. Noel applied on Oct 9 to be substituted as reporting trustee. He asked the trust to state on affidavit whether Singh was qualified to file the report. Clause 6 of the deed says "all of the trustees shall be Zoroastrians".Bai Hirabai said Mistry's three-year term expired on Oct 28, 2025. Mistry argued that "the trust deed prescribes no tenure; the trusteeship is for life".Bai Hirabai had relied on a March 2000 opinion by former Chief Justice of India M H Kania, which held the eligibility restrictions "bad in law". Kania's reasoning rested on a codicil to Sir Ratan Tata's will, which the trust says imposed no restrictions on ethnicity, race or religion. Mistry said a "private opinion" cannot override a registered deed. The first non-Parsi trustee was appointed in July 1999, he noted, nine months before the opinion.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.