Govt keeping \\’close watch\\’ on Tata matter: Meghwal

\ Gandhinagar, Oct 28(PTI) Government is keeping a \\"close\watch\\" on the developments relating to Tata-Mistry case, but\does not want to \\"interfere\\" at present as it was an \\"internal\matter\\" of a private group, Ministry of State for Corporate\Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal said today.\ Meghwal, who is also a Minister of State for Finance,\further said the government has not received any\representation from regulatory authorities like Sebi about\this issue and would \\"take note\\" as and when Sebi asks it to\look into the matter in future.\ Tata Sons, the main holding company of over USD\100-billion conglomerate, earlier this week ousted Cyrus\Mistry from the position of Chairman, while recalling his\predecessor Ratan Tata as an interim Chairman.\ This was followed by Mistry unleashing a scathing attack\on the group and Ratan Tata through a letter written to the\board of Tata Sons, which hit back a day later and refuted all\the allegations. Tatas have also filed caveats in the Supreme\Court, Bombay High Court and the National Company Law Tribunal\to prevent any orders being passed without they being heard on\any petition by Mistry.\ Speaking to reporters here at a function in GIFT City\today, Meghwal said, \\"This is an internal matter of Tata Sons.\The issue has also reached to the court. Since Tata is a major\group, we are keeping a close watch on the developments.\However, we don\\’t want to interfere in the matter at present.\\"\ He was replying to a query on his ministry\\’s possible\steps in probing the allegations made by Mistry against Tata\Sons.\ In the letter written by Mistry to Tata Sons\\’ board\members, he allegedly pointed out several lapses in the\functioning of the conglomerate as well as on the corporate\governance front.\ \\"At present, we have not received any representation\from Sebi about this issue. We will take note of the issue as\and when Sebi asks us to look into the issue in future,\\" said\Meghwal.\ He was at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT\City) today to inaugurate New India Assurance Company Ltd\\’s\first insurance office at the GIFT IFSC (International\Financial Services Centre).\ On the World Bank\\’s latest ease of doing business\rankings, wherein India has been ranked 130th, Meghwal\defended the central government\\’s efforts and claimed that the\sampling done by the ranking agencies was not sufficient for a\vast country like India.\ \\"We have taken so many initiatives for ease of doing\business, such as Digital India, Make in India, Skill India,\Stand-Up India and so on. But, we feel that those engaged in\giving ranking have not taken into account our efforts as well\as investment in totality,\\" said Meghwal.\ \\"They might have found some lapses and thought that it\is not working in entire country, which is not the case. They\may not have taken into account the vast variety of this\country. Ranking agencies should have collected samples from\the entire country to get a real picture instead of collecting\samples from selected places,\\" Meghwal added. PTI PJT PD RSY\\MKJ\