TMB gets new board. Losers to approach the court

Venkatachari Jagannathan
13 March 2004

According to one director, the meeting was in conformity with a Company Law Board (CLB) order that the new board should meet and put on record the annual general meeting (AGM) held on 12.3.2003. Since this was just a formality, the agenda did not have any serious business.

"In the end, truth and justice will always win," said Aditan in a one-line comment on his election.

It was a long drawn fight for the Aditan group to gain total control of the bank. For years he has been spearheading the TMB retrieval movement, trying to bring back the 67 per cent of the bank stake to the Nadar community fold. Aditan was also a member of the dissolved TMB board. 

At the poll, the Aditan group secured around 1.33 lakh votes as against 45, 000 polled by his opponents. The bank has 2.84 lakh shares/votes. There were 44 contestants for the 10 board vacancies. Out of 51 nominations received initially, seven withdrew their nominations before the poll.

More than the poll and the results, what was keenly watched was the decision of the AGM chairman, S Ramalingam, a retired judge on the voting status of the 33 per cent stake. The Madras High Court had said that the voting status of the shares would be decided by the AGM chairman.

The question was who will exercise the voting rights — the original sellers or the seven Nadar individuals who bought the shares recently or the power of attorney (POA) holders of the original sellers and the buyers?