3 min readMumbaiUpdated: Apr 19, 2026 08:51 PM ISTMistry was voted out of Tata Trusts by other trustees in October 2025. (File Photo)In a bid to resolve the ongoing controversy over the trusteeship of the Bai Hirabai Jamsetji Tata Navsari Charitable Institution (Bai Hirabai Trust), the board of trustees has decided to remove restrictive eligibility clauses and bring them in line with those followed by other Tata group trusts.“In order to correct anomalies in the Trust Deed and to align it with the values that the Tata Trusts have always epitomised, the trustees have decided to adopt proceedings before the appropriate authority for alteration of restrictive clauses in respect of eligibility of Trustees,” Tata Trusts said.Mehli Mistry, former trustee of Tata Trusts, had formally challenged the appointment and continuation of two trustees — Venu Srinivasan and former Defence Secretary Vijay Singh — of Bai Hirabai Trust before the Maharashtra Charity Commissioner. Mistry contended that the trust mandates trustees to maintain permanent residence in Mumbai and belong to the Parsi Zoroastrian faith.While Srinivasan obliged and resigned, Vijay Singh declined.Mistry claimed that both of them do not satisfy these criteria. He has sought regulatory intervention, including a formal inquiry and sworn declarations from all trustees confirming their eligibility.“The trustees, while reviewing the activities of the Bai Hirabai Trust, deliberated on the recent statements appearing in sections of the press relating to the Trust,” Tata Trusts said. They were categorical in emphasising that the Tata ethos has always been inclusive, secular and all-encompassing and focused on philanthropy and service to the nation.“Non-Zoroastrians have been continuously appointed to the Trust since the year 2000, following a legal opinion obtained from a former Chief Justice of India. The Trustees noted that Bai Hirabai is a non-shareholding Trust with a minimal asset base and limited activities,” it said.The Bai Hirabai Trust was created under the 1916 Codicil to the Will of Sir Ratan Tata who died in 1918. “The Codicil did not provide for any restrictions in respect of Trustees on grounds of ethnicity, race or religion. 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,” it said.Story continues below this adIn 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. 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, it said.“Nonetheless, it is a fact that the Trust Deed made in 1923 by the then Trustees, contained restrictive clauses that, among other things, prohibited non-Zoroastrians from being Trustees of the Bai Hirabai Trust. These provisions had imposed restrictions not provided for by Sir Ratan Tata’s Codicil,” Tata Trusts said. Tags:TATA