Bengaluru/Mumbai, Sept. 18 -- Tata Trusts chairman Noel Tata stood firm at the Tata Sons board meeting but was outvoted by five directors led by chairman N. Chandrasekaran when the board decided to follow the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) order to list its shares on the stock exchanges and extend the chairman's term. Expressing his disagreement, Noel Tata said the decision not to seek another term was the chairman's own choice, made freely, and had already been finalized after the main shareholder accepted it. Noel Tata came with a two-page note to speak to a hostile and doubtful board of directors. Expecting disagreement and interruptions, he decided to submit his written statement to be included in the meeting records. Noel Tata's main concerns about the company's structure, its obligations to the regulator, and the leadership of Tata Sons and the succession to the chair were the crux of his argument. "They have arrived together. They are not, however, of the same kind, and they do not answer one another." Noel Tata referred to Chandrasekaran's decision not to offer himself for reappointment. "On 12 August 2026, the chairman (Chandrasekaran) wrote to this board stating that he would not offer himself for a further term upon the conclusion of his present tenure on 20 February 2027. That was his own decision. It was freely taken and clearly expressed. It was not sought from him by this board, it was not the subject of any resolution of this board, and it was not the outcome of any process of review," he said. He added that the letter was thereafter placed in the public domain without prior deliberation with shareholders, particularly the Tata Trusts, which hold approximately 66% of equity. "I raise this not by way of complaint, and I accept that a chairman is entitled to speak of his own intentions. I raise it because a communication of that character, once public, has consequences which this Board cannot afterwards undo. The group's employees, its lenders, its counterparties and the market have all proceeded upon it. So, has the majority shareholder. The page has turned." Noel Tata said Tata Trusts have accepted the chairman's decision and requested that the company constitute a selection committee, in accordance with its Articles, to appoint a successor. "A resolution now for re-appointment moved at this meeting would therefore ask this board to set aside three things at once: the chairman's own stated decision, the acceptance of that decision by the majority shareholder, and the further process which that shareholder has asked this Company to set in motion." He argued the chairmanship question is premature as Chandrasekaran's own position as director is presently uncertain, with the general meeting to determine that not having been able to proceed for want of quorum....