Venu Srinivasan quits Bai Hirabai Charitable Trust after questions over his eligibility, cites other commitments

Venu Srinivasan, Chairman emeritus of TVS Motor and Vice-Chairman and trustee of seven trusts of the Tata Group, has tendered his resignation from Bai Hirabai Charitable Trust (Tata Trust), citing his busyness with other work.

Srinivasan’s resignation comes at a time when former trustee Mehli Mistry has challenged the fitness of two trustees, including Srinivasan and Vijay Singh.

Sources privy to the development told ANI that Mistry, in his appeal to the Charity Commissioner of Maharashtra, claimed that two trustees of the said Trust – Srinivasan and Singh – never met the qualifications required for appointment as trustees of Bai Hira Bai trust and were expressly disqualified under the Trust Deed. Mistry argued that under Clauses 6 and 18 of the said Deed, such disqualified trustees should be treated as “deemed dead”.

He specifically claims that Venu and Vijay have never been of the Parsi Zoroastrian faith and have no permanent residence in Mumbai. Therefore, they are considered to be automatically disqualified. On this basis, Mistry sought a suo motu inquiry by the State Charity Commissioner and requested the authority to direct all the trustees to submit affidavits confirming their compliance.