Tatas set up body to find successor

Tatas set up body to find successor
ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU

JULY 6: Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata group, has decided to set up a governance council which will be responsible for nominating a successor to group chairman Ratan Tata who is scheduled to give up his executive position on attaining 65 years in December 2002.

The proposed council, the setting up of which was mooted at the last board meeting of Tata Sons, will also be responsible for the formation and evaluation of the board of directors of the company. "The governance council will comprise the chairman of the company and two/three non-executive directors of the board," the Tata group said on a statement on Thursday.

"The governance council intends to develop a self-appraisal mechanism to assess the role and contribution of board members. This will eventually enable the board to structure a governance framework for evaluating its performance. Such proposals will be developed periodically and brought to the Tata Sons board for consideration," the statement added.

In a significant development, Tata Sons has decided that non-executive directors of the company will retire at the age of 70, as against the current retirement age of 75 years.

Pallonji S Mistry and Fredie Mehta, who are currently on the Tata Sons board, are the only two directors past the age of 70. "In the interests of the continuity and to ensure a smooth transition, the implementation of this change in retirement age will be completed over the next five years," the group has said.

Meanwhile, the Tata Sons board has been revamped following retirement of finance director NA Soonawala and relocation of group human resources director Manab Bose.

Soonawala, who retired from his executive position upon completing 65 years of age, has been replaced by Ishaat Hussain who will assume the dual responsibilities of finance director of Tata Sons and director-in-charge of Tata Financial Services. Hussain will now be in charge of the group's finance function.

Group human resources director Manab Bose has stepped down from his executive position and has been relocated to Bangalore "to work on a special assignment." Officials reporting to Bose will now report to Gopalkrishnan, who along with Tata, Hussain and Kishore Chaukar currently comprise the Group Executive Office.

"Soonawala continues to be a non-executive director on the board of Tata Sons, as also other Tata group companies, and will be involved in the group's investment portfolio and some other specific assignments," the Tata statement said.