Stuck Without a Relieving Letter: How Can I Resolve This with My Former Employer?

I was employed with a company as Manager of Operations. However, I was verbally given the additional responsibility of purchasing as well.

Upon receiving a better offer, I had to leave the company within a week, instead of the committed 2 months' notice period. In lieu of that, I paid for the rest of the notice period, as per the offer letter.

Documents in Possession

Now, I have the following documents:

1. Accepted & stamped resignation letter
2. No Dues form signed by all the mentioned departments
3. Receipt for payment of notice period
4. Form 16
5. Bank statement (there was no concept of salary slips)

Current Situation

Now, upon demanding my resignation, my company took some lower quotes from the market regarding the purchases I made and is not releasing my relieving letter. Instead, they are threatening me to come and resolve the issues and provide explanations. This is after I had already been there twice. Taking frequent leaves in a new job can have adverse effects, and I do not see them releasing the letter even after that.

My new company is demanding the resignation letter daily. In the previous company, HR is not a very strong group, so I can't take much help from them either.

Is there anything I can do regarding this?

I would like to add that all the purchases were approved by the chairman before we made them. Secondly, the purchase rates were high because the company preferred purchases to be on a credit basis. Being in a very remote location, the vendor options were limited. Additionally, my lack of background in purchasing also contributed to the issue.

I am not a lawyer. But from the trend, I feel the company is wrong in holding your resignation letter. Take out an affidavit of the events and send a legal notice to the company. If they don't reply to the notice, then produce that to the new company. Maybe the HR will have some reasoning individuals.

New Concepts in Employment Practices

This concept is new regarding NOC/resignation acceptance letter/experience letter, etc. This is created by firms/companies to curb the flight of manpower. This, by itself, is a wrong and illegal practice. Have confidence and go ahead. Everything will not work on your lines/wishes; you have to make some courageous decisions.

All the best.

Regards,
Sekar