India, Feb. 1 -- Former Citibank India CEO Pramit Jhaveri has decided not to seek another term at the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, one of the two principal trusts that controls the $300-billion Tata group of companies. His term expires 11 February. "I have served as a Trustee of the Sir Dorab Tata Trust (SDTT) since February 12, 2020, when Mr Ratan N. Tata invited me to join as a Trustee. As discussed with you some days ago, I am now writing to let you know that I do not wish to be considered for re-appointment as a Trustee of SDTT when my current term expires on February 11, 2026," Jhaveri wrote to Noel Tata on Saturday. This will make Jhaveri the second trustee to move out of the philanthropic entities that own the Tata Group in the last three months and underscores the differences among trustees since current chairman Noel Tata took over in October 2024. The departure of Jhaveri, who took a seat on the SDTT board six years ago, comes at a time when chairman Noel Tata is seeking to have all trustees agree to induct his son, Neville Tata, as another principal of the Tata Trusts and cement his control over the philanthropic entities. The appointment of Neville requires unanimous approval of all trustees. An email sent to Tata Trusts and Jhaveri seeking comment was unanswered at the time of publishing this story.Discord from last year. In October last year, Mehli Mistry, a businessman and one of the late Ratan Tata's closest confidants, was forced to step down after Noel Tata, TVS Motor Co. chair emeritus Venu Srinivasan, and retired defence secretary Vijay Singh opposed his reappointment on SDTT and another prominent trust, the Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT). The two trusts together own more than 51% of Tata Sons. This was a rare episode, as trustee appointments at the Tata Trusts are made by consensus. Jhaveri served as a trustee only on SDTT along with six others. Besides chair Noel, Srinivasan, Singh, and Supreme Court lawyer Darius Khambata, Noel's son, Neville, and Bhaskar Bhat, formerly a Tata Sons board member and Titan Co. Ltd's CEO, were inducted on the trust's board in November. Tata Sons is the group's holding company. Noel, Srinivasan, Singh, and Khambata are trustees at SRTT, as well. Besides them, the two two trustees are Ratan Tata's brother Jimmy N Tata and Pune-based philanthropist Jehangir HC. The latest development reflects the lack of consensus among Trustees, leading Jhaveri not to seek a renewal on the board, according to an executive privy to the development. Incidentally, in September last year, Jhaveri, Mistry and Khambata together opposed Singh's continued representation on the board of Tata Sons, which Natarajan Chandrasekaran chairs. This led to Singh's ouster as a Tata Trusts nominee on the board of Tata Sons. Tata Trusts can nominate up to three trustees to the board of the group holding company. Missing consensus, big decisions For now, Noel and Srinivasan are the two trust representatives on the board of Tata Sons, which, besides chair Chandrasekaran, also counts Tata Sons Group chief financial officer Saurabh Agrawal and independent directors Harish Manwani and Anita Marangoly George. At the heart of the simmering tensions within the Tata Trusts, which, after Rata Tata's death on 9 October 2024, entrusted Noel to lead the philanthropic entities, are the issues of control and transparency. Noel is seeking to assert his control over the entities. At the same time, some of the other trustees believe that the Tata Trustees' representatives on the board of Tata Sons are not sharing the decisions taken by the board with them. These differences spilt over into a closed-door board meeting on 11 September, when Singh was ousted as the Tata Trusts representative on Tata Sons' board. The following month, Singh, along with Noel and Srinivasan, opposed Mistry's continuation as a trustee on the SRTT and SDTT boards, prompting many, including Ratan Tata's two sisters, to express their anguish and question whether decisions were being made with vindictiveness. Things became murkier when Srinivasan opposed the induction of Noel's son, Neville, and Bhat to the board of SRTT, followed by the cancellation of a critical Tata Trusts board meeting earlier this month....