Two vice-chairmen of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust have objected to a merger proposal put forward by Noel Tata, chairman of Tata Sons, in a letter written to fellow trustees on September 30.

Vijay Singh and Venu Srinivasan said they were not consulted on the proposal, which seeks to merge Tata Electronics Systems Solutions and Tata Consulting Engineers into Tata Sons. They said no trust meeting was held to discuss the plan and questioned whether a shareholder could direct the board of Tata Sons.

The letter also cited the Reserve Bank of India’s September 11 directive asking Tata Sons to comply with norms for non-banking finance companies in the upper layer. The trustees have complained to the Maharashtra Charity Commissioner about the process.

The objection exposes a rare public rift inside the Tata philanthropic trusts, which hold the controlling stake in Tata Sons. The merger was seen as a way for Tata Sons to avoid a mandatory initial public offering.