Tata dispute: Lawyers Abhishek Singhvi, Harish Salve now on opposing sides

While Salve publicly defended Chandrasekaran’s reappointment and endorsed idea of listing Tata Sons, Singhvi accused Tata Sons of undermining shareholder rights

MUMBAI: It is Singhvi versus Salve in the Tata battle. After standing together for Tata Sons and Tata Trusts in the Cyrus Mistry case, two of India's most high-profile lawyers are now on opposite sides, with Abhishek Manu Singhvi emerging as the public face of Tata Trusts' challenge to decisions at Tata Sons and Harish Salve mounting a robust defence of Tata Sons and chairman N Chandrasekaran.

It is a striking reversal from the Tata-Mistry battle, when both argued for Tata Sons and the special position of the Trusts within the group.While Salve has publicly defended Chandrasekaran's reappointment and endorsed the idea of listing Tata Sons, Singhvi has accused Tata Sons of undermining shareholder rights and disregarding established governance arrangements.In a post on X, Singhvi said the issues "can only have legal solutions" and that the Supreme Court's Tata-Mistry ruling, which he said gave the Trusts primacy over Tata Sons, "seems to have been selectively forgotten".In a television interview on Friday, Salve argued that a public listing of Tata Sons would render the restrictive private-company provisions at the heart of the dispute redundant and ease boardroom friction. Resistance to such a move, he said, raised questions about "private ambitions" and "individual interests" rather than corporate governance.