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The trustees of Tata Trusts have decided to initiate proceedings before the appropriate authority to alter restrictive clauses governing eligibility of trustees in the Bai Hirabai Jamsetji Tata Navsari Charitable Institution, in a move aimed at aligning the trust deed with the group’s long-standing inclusive ethos.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Bai Hirabai Trust’s board held on April 17 under the chairmanship of Noel Tata. The trustees said the move seeks to correct anomalies in the 1923 trust deed, which introduced restrictions — including barring non-Zoroastrians from trusteeship — that were not part of the original codicil to the will of Sir Ratan Tata.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Tata Trusts pointed out that the original 1916 codicil did not impose any restrictions based on ethnicity, race or religion. They noted that the Bai Hirabai Trust was intended to be administered by trustees of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, without any such limitations.

“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,” the statement said.

The trustees further clarified that the Bai Hirabai Trust is a non-shareholding entity with a limited asset base and relatively modest activities.

“In the year 2015, the objects of the Bai Hirabai Trust were enlarged to also cover the general public as beneficiaries of the activities of the Trust,” and added, “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.”

Nonetheless, 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, the statement said.

The board also highlighted that non-Zoroastrians have been appointed as trustees since 2000, following a legal opinion from a former Chief Justice of India. It reiterated that inclusivity and secularism have been central to the Tata ethos, which has historically focused on philanthropy and service to the nation.

Separately, the trustees expressed full confidence in the chief executive officer of Tata Trusts, endorsing his administrative leadership.

This move by Tata Trusts follows objections, raised by ousted former trustee Mehli Mistry, to the appointment of Vijay Singh and Venu Srinivasan to the board of Bai Hirabai Trust, saying that they did not meet the eligibility condition of belonging to the Parsi-Zoroastrian faith. Srinivasan resigned from the Trust thereafter, while Singh continues to remain on board.

The admission by Tata Trusts that the eligibility criteria was restrictive is unlikely to lead to disqualification of earlier board appointees, said experts. “Because such appointments are generally assessed based on the governing rules in force at the time they were made,” said Akshat Khetan, Founder, AU Corporate Advisory and Legal Services.

When Srinivasan and Singh were appointed trustees for the first time and the change report was filed with the Office of the Charity Commissioner and it was accepted, “at that point of time the charity commissioner is presumed to have gone through the trust deed and all the conditions satisfied that they were rightfully eligible to be trustees,” said a person with direct knowledge of developments, adding that the regulator had approved it.

“The Trust has framed the issue as a historical inconsistency rather than an unlawful provision, and is seeking to correct it prospectively through legal processes. Unless a court or regulatory authority specifically finds that the restrictive clause was invalid under law or contrary to public policy from the outset, past appointments would typically remain valid, making this more a matter of future alignment than retrospective illegality,” said Khetan.

Published on April 19, 2026