Dear R.K.,
Your certificates and testimonials are your personal property and your company does not have any right to retain your certificates. You can ask for the same even through legal notice, and if needed through legal action also.
Although I am of the view that any bond should be on a stamp paper, but for the purpose, whether an informal bond on a company's letter head is valid or not, I would suggest you to take advice from some civil law advocate and act accordingly. It may also be possible that at some other date your company would have attached a stamp paper along with your bond on letter head just to fulfill the legal requirement. If you have not put the date with your signature then your employer would have manipulated the bond document also by attaching a stamp paper at some later date after signing of the bond. You may need to check all these things.
If a legal expert says that the informal bond does not have any value, you can ask the employer to claim the bond amount through court of law by filing a case against you. I am sure he won't be able to prove validity of the bond, or to justify any such loss to the extent of the bond amount. BUT, if a legal expert confirms the validity of the bond, you may have to pay the agreed amount to your company. But for future please take a lesson, neither you should part with your certificates and testimonials, nor should sign any such unethical bond. Better you avoid such companies which play such type of bad tactics.
If you still need to apply for duplicate certificates, you may have to falsely show the certificate folder to have been misplaced somewhere during traveling, etc., and lodge an FIR with Police to that effect. Attach copy of the FIR with each of your application for duplicate certificate. Duplicate certificates cannot be issued without any solid reason.
PS Dhingra
Vigilance & Transformation Management Consultant
Dhingra Group of management & Educational Consultants
New Delhi