Shareholders of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) approved the re-appointment of Saudi Aramco chairman Yasir Othman H Al-Rumayyan as an independent director even as 16 per cent of those who cast their votes were against the proposal.

In 2021, chairman and managing director Mukesh D Ambani had announced that RIL would induct Rumayyan as an independent director replacing Y.P. Trivedi.

Subsequently, the shareholders of RIL had approved his appointment for a period of three years till July 18, 2024.

His re-appointment will now mean that his tenure gets extended to July 18, 2029.

In a stock exchange filing, Reliance said its shareholders, through a postal ballot, approved the reappointment of Rumayyan and Haigreve Khaitan as independent directors on the board. They also approved the reappointment of senior executive P.M.S. Prasad as a director for another five years.

The resolution for reappointment of Al Rumayyan showed 83.97 per cent of the shareholders (who polled) voting in favour of the resolution. As many as 16.02 per cent voted against it.

In 2021, 94.90 per cent of the public institutions had voted in favour and it stood at 99.91 per cent in the case of non-institutions. However, now 39.91 per cent of the public institutions voted against the proposal whereas it stood at 0.0615 per cent when it came to public non-institutions.

Khaitan, who is a partner in Khaitan & Co, was appointed as independent director for five years beginning April 1, 2024. The resolution for his appointment also saw over 12.84 per cent shareholders voting against it. As many as 87.15 per cent shareholders voted in favour of his appointment.

The resolution seeking Prasad’s reappointment was passed with 93.69 per cent votes in favour and 6.3 per cent against.

Earlier, late M.L. Bhakta, founding partner of Kanga and Co, was the last legal luminary on the RIL board and he served for nearly 42 years.

The company has not had any legal professional as a member on its board since 2019, the shareholder resolution said.

“Considering the size and complexity of the operations of the company and the evolving global and local regulatory landscape, particularly in consumer and technology businesses, (it was) thought fit that induction of a vastly experienced senior legal professional as a member of the board of directors would be in the interest of the company.” RIL said.