Unnecessary Clauses mentioned in the Reliving letter

Hi Everyone,

I was working in a Company, where I signed Mutual NDA(when I was a Student in a College) before I join to that Company. In that it was mentioned that, the agreement will be valid for 3 years. And I resigned that Company on October last year and I had to serve notice period of 2 months and after that joined the new Company in January this year. And I joined the new company which is kind of competitor in only one field. Just to be clear: the previous company was working on multiple fields and the new Company is focused in only one field.

Since I was inexperienced with the resigning: I said all truth to the management that I have got this and this opportunity, so I want to resign. After I resigned, the management team forced me and harassed me to not join that company and they gave me a new non-compete bond to sign and told me that my relieving will not happen properly if I do not sign. I said I will not sign anything now and I was truthful that I will be joining that Company itself. And they messaged to the next Company that they must not take me otherwise they will make a big issue. So, finally I served the notice period of 2 months and resigned.


Coming to main point, In the relieving letter, they have written the unnecessary clauses. The content is like below:

" This is to Certify that myname has worked with us as designation from tenure.

He has been relieved from his duties w.e.f last working day.

Please be noted that all clauses and terms wrt non-disclosure, non-compete, non-solicitation as accepted and signed by him in the offer letter is applicable even after his exit for a period of 12 months and any breach of the same will lead to potential legal consequences. Requesting him to continue adhering to the related policies and clauses.

His contributions to the organisation and its success will always be appreciated.

We wish him all the best in his future endeavours.

HR Manager name and sign"


My queries are:

1.) Is this relieving letter will be fine for me in the future?
2.) Will this letter(with clauses) affect me in taking loans, VISA process, higher studies, etc.?

PS: I have last 3 working months Salary slips, appointment letter, Bank statement of Salary account, Form-16 and ITR of 2 years.

Your reply would really help me.

Looking forward to your reply.

Thank you for reading.

Hi CiteHR Community,

I look forward to your reply.

Thank you!

In general, a Non-Compete clause for an employee is not valid in India.
Therefore the action of your employer is bad in law. They can not stop you from joining a competitor or force you to continue to work with them, irrespective of any agreement you may have signed. At best, they can recover Training cost under certain circumstances. However, you need to be careful that you do not disclose business secrets to your new employer because that clause of the NDA is valid. It does not mean you can not use your knowledge, but you need to be clear of what is confidential information of previous employer and do not disclose that.

It is generally a good idea to leave in good relationship with the employer. but if that is not possible, then just be ready for the consequences. When a new employer does a BGV, this company will probably give a negative comment. So for any new job you take, ensure that HR is informed well in advance of the problems you had with that particular employer.