Ousted Tata Sons chairperson Cyrus Mistry on Thursday filed a petition with the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, challenging his removal, reported Economic Times. In his plea, Mistry has asked the tribunal to stall the Tata Sons shareholders’ meeting, which has been called to vote him out as a board member, on February 6. The tribunal will hear the matter on Friday, reported The Hindu.

Earlier, the National Company Law Tribunal had refused to grant a stay on the ouster of Mistry. Three petitions were filed with the NCLT. The main plea was filed on December 20 last year by two investment firms – Cyrus Investments and Sterling Investment Corp – that are controlled by Mistry’s family. They had accused Tata Sons of bad practices, oppression and mismanagement.

In the petition, they had urged the Mumbai court to direct the holding company to not remove Mistry (who was ousted as the Tata Sons chairperson on October 24) from its board until the plea was disposed of. One of the remaining two petitions sought a stay on Tata Sons meeting on February 6. The third plea sought a waiver of Section 244 of the Companies Act, under which only those who own more than 10% stake can appeal with the tribunal. Cyrus Investments and Sterling Investment Corp hold 18.4% stake in Tata Sons, according to Economic Times.

Mistry had stepped down from all Tata Group companies on December 19, saying it was time to be “more incisive in securing the best interest of the Tata Group”. In his resignation letter, he had alleged that Ratan Tata had staged “an illegal coup” on October 24, the day he was sacked from his post in the holding company, which had accused Mistry of misleading the 2011 selection committee set up to appoint Ratan Tata’s successor.

On January 12, Natarajan Chandrasekaran was named the next chairperson of Tata Sons. The Tata Consultancy Services chief will take over from interim chairman Ratan Tata on February 21.