Legal Question in Employment Law in India

Respected Lawyers,

i dont know if i am putting this in a right category or not but i really need your help. this is required before i proceed to any unwanted and unpleasant actions.

i used to be working with a company for about 3 years. i have left the organization about 4 months back because the directors were not doing very well (it was personally funded company and no investor's funding) also, there wasnt any salary for appx 6 months (and more) to me and other employees of the company to which company had only one answer that our money is stuck with our clients and because of which we cant pay.

now, as i was one of the directors (not a promoter director but a professional) in the company, i should have known quite a bit about the same. but as my Managing Director said, you dont need to know the finances and investment reports of the company and you only concentrate on the operations (as i was the director of operations).

as the company is immature and there hadn't been any external advisory (at least none were provided to me by the company and none that i am aware of) i couldnt consult to anyone and didnt have much external interactions on the same regards.

now that i am out of the company and i had put in my resignation and served 15 days of the notice period (out of courtesy, as there had not been any documents signed by me saying that i will be serving any particular amount of notice period and none of the other documents had been signed by me. so no formalities while i was noted as a director, but yes i was registered as a director in RoC which i know of.)

now my MD is asking me for all the gifts (which were given to me during the period while i was serving the company and all of them are at-least with me for about a year now. they include electronics mainly.) back. also, he is asking me to sign on an undertaking stating that i am not going to start my own business under the same vicinity and will not provide services which i had practiced in that company (just to remind you that i never signed any document of such notice before this in the company.) now just a point of notification here is that i have still not received my last 6 (or more) month's salary and there has been no communication from their side saying that when it will be paid (its been 4 months now).

my only mistake happened that i left without collecting my releasing documents and even though i followed up multiple times, i have not been able to get them from the company. (its has been now delayed by about 4 months and when i asked for them again recently i recieved an email along with this undertaking document to be signed. and also to surrender the gifts which were given to me while my service period about a year back.) (i find this a clear case of extortion from my company as it seems that they will not release any of my documents before i sign on this undertaking. And i am not willing to sign on this undertaking or surrendering the gifts as i have not been paid for last 6-8 months, i have started my own business and i can not shut it down because my boss will not give my any of my documents and threaten me with this kind of email or undertaking request. and of course my most worry is that if i am still registered at RoC about the directorship holding of that company, i don't wanna be in any of the problems later on. but it seems that its not in my hands to de-register myself from RoC.)

Could you please advice me on the above as i am not sure what should be my next step. (according to me, i dont wanna get into all this legal stuff because i have just started my business and i really dont have time for the same. And i dont think my MD will have any logical conversation with me on this topic as he has taken such a drastic step after 4 months of my resignation from the organization, which he wouldnt have done if he had any intentions to talk.)

It will be a great help if you gurus can please comment on the above issue and help me solve it or understand it better. Your knowledge will help me understand and will guide me through this.

Thank You Very Much. Any help is Appreciated.

Best Regards,

... ... ... ... ... ...

P.S. About the gifts which i mentioned above, there is no written communication between the company and myself of company giving it to me (though it was delivered at my doorstep but it was a local labor no courier or any receipt or any legal written document of delivery.) (thought i would just clarify the point.)

2 Answers from Attorneys

Related Questions & Answers

More Labor and Employment Law questions and answers in India

Looking for something else?