The Hindu Business Line : Tata Fin chiefs approved my decisions: Pendse

MR Dilip S. Pendse, former Managing Director of Tata Finance, has said that all business decisions made by him were with the full knowledge and approval of Dr F.A. Mehta, Chairman, and Mr Kishore Chaukar, Vice-Chairman, of the company.

In an affidavit filed in the court on Friday, Mr Pendse alleged that Mr Chaukar had removed a page from a `Review Operations' report placed at a board meeting of Tata Finance held on April 30, 2001.

This "page No 60" of the report documented the Rs 433-crore borrowing of Niskalp, a subsidiary of Tata Finance, from the company. It also documented the mode of deployment of funds by Niskalp, Mr Pendse said in his affidavit.

"At my astonishment, at this meeting (board meeting) Mr Chaukar tore page No 60 from the `Review operations' report and directed others to follow suit and hand over the said page to Mrs B.R. Gazdar, Company Secretary, saying it was necessary to do so in order to protect himself and Dr F.A. Mehta and other members of the board. He also directed that the contents of page 60 should not be reflected in the minutes of the board meeting. In spite of being the Chairman, Dr Mehta raised no objection to this conduct nor did any other board members," Mr Pendse said in his affidavit.

Mr Pendse said the stand taken by plaintiff, Tata Finance, that Dr Mehta was not a party to or aware of the advances made by the company to Niskalp and other subsidiaries was false.

The company had filed a suit to recover Rs 424.50 crore loss made by it from Mr Pendse and others alleging that the money was advanced to Niskalp in an authorised and illegal manner. "Since Niskalp received the said amount the question of recovering the same from me does arise," Mr Pendse said in the affidavit.

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