As many as 10 directors, including chairman M N Mehta, of Saurashtra Cement resigned today.

The company informed the stock exchanges about the mass resignations without citing the reason for the move.

However, Jay Mehta, executive vice chairman of the company told Business Standard that "some legal issues" led to the mass resignation.

He declined to divulge details. "The directors were advised by their legal counsel to step down for some time," he added.

The directors resigning, apart from M N Mehta, include deputy chairman D N Mehta, executive vice-chairman Jay Mehta, managing director M S Gilotra and deputy managing director R K Poddar.

Five non-executive directors _ H D Mehta, M N Rao, Savita Pittie and Stephen Potter  have also stepped down. The 15-member board is now left with five directors.

A senior company official told Business Standard, "The directors have stepped down because an association with Saurashtra Cement would make them ineligible to hold directorship in any public limited company as per the Companies Act."