Anonymous
I left my previous company after a month on probation due to family health issues. I sent a resignation email to the company stating that I couldn't serve the notice period due to family health issues. The company is showing the below clause for employees to serve the notice period

Non-Competition. Employee agrees that during Employee’s employment by Company, and for two (2) years following the termination of Employee’s employment for any reason, Employee shall not, directly or indirectly, work or engage as an employee, agent, consultant, owner, stockholder, partner or otherwise for or with any individual or entity that is a client, vendor, or supplier of Company and its client. This paragraph shall survive the termination or the expiration of this Agreement.

Non-Solicitation. Employee agrees that during Employee’s employment by Company, and for two (2) years following the termination of Employee’s employment for any reason, Employee shall not, directly or indirectly, solicit, accept, contact, or divert any of Company’s clients, vendors, suppliers, employees, consultants, candidates or prospects for employment or engagement, or staffing contracts, or otherwise take away or attempt to take away from Company any business Company had or was actively soliciting during Employee’s employment, without regard to whether Employee introduced any such individual or entity to Company.

Employee further agrees that during Employee’s employment with Company and for two (2) years following the termination of Employee’s employment for any reason, Employee will not, directly or indirectly, induce or attempt to induce any Company employee, consultant, contractor, candidate, or prospect to terminate his or her employment, contract, or business relationship with Company, or, directly or indirectly, otherwise solicit or divert from Company any such individual. This paragraph shall survive the termination or expiration of this Agreement.

Non-Disparagement. Employee agrees that during and subsequent to Employee’s employment by Company, Employee shall not make any statement or take any action that impairs or reasonably may be expected to impair the goodwill or the business reputation of Company or to be otherwise detrimental to the interests of Company.

Remedies. In the event of a breach by Employee of Sections 5.01, 5.02 or 5.03, Employee agrees that Company will be irreparably harmed, thus entitling Company to injunctive relief enjoining Employee from further breaching this Agreement, in addition to any monetary damages and other relief to which Company may be entitled at law or in equity.

From India, Hyderabad
Dinesh Divekar
7879

Dear member,

I wish that after copying the text, you had pasted it on Notepad. Then, you could have copied the contents from there and pasted them on this forum. I say so because your post came as a single paragraph, and editing it took a while.

Okay. Now, coming to your query. There are six paragraphs in your post. The first one is an introductory paragraph from you. The other five paragraphs are divided into four clauses: Non-competition, Non-solicitation, Non-disparagement, and Remedies. None of the clauses mention the notice period. Did you forget to paste the paragraph about the notice period when pasting the contents of the appointment letter? Please check.

When replying, please follow the guidelines in the first paragraph of this reply.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

From India, Bangalore
Anonymous
This Appointment Letter is an Employment Agreement effective from “05th Day of October 2023” between ________ Pvt. Ltd. (“Company”), and _______ residing at 7-1-_____________, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh-500038 (“Employee”) (each individually referred to as a “Party” and, collectively, the “Parties”).
WHEREAS, Company is in the IT Services business; WHEREAS, Employee acknowledges that Company will not employ Employee unless Employee agrees to the terms of this Agreement;
NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the promises hereinafter made and to induce the Parties into entering into this Employment Agreement (this “Agreement”), the Parties agree as follows, intending to be legally bound hereby.

ARTICLE 1
Engagement

1.01 Retention; Duties. Company hereby retains Employee to serve as a “Sr. Talent Acquisition Partner”.
Employee shall perform the duties of this position and such other or additional duties and responsibilities as may be assigned
from time to time by Company. Employee agrees to the best of Employee’s ability to perform and render such services and that
Employee shall devote all of Employee’s working time to such services and duties assigned from time to time by the Company
and its clients. Employee shall discharge Employee’s responsibilities pursuant to this Agreement competently, carefully, and
faithfully. In the performance of Employee’s duties, Employee shall comply with any and all of Company’s policies, rules,
procedures, and all applicable Local, State, and Federal laws, rules, regulations, statutes, ordinances, and other provisions of law
and shall maintain a standard of professional conduct that is acceptable to Company.

1.02 Authority. Employee represents and warrants to Company that Employee is subject to no agreement or other
legal obligation including, but not limited to, any restrictive covenant such as a non-competition or non-solicitation agreement,
with any prior employer or any other individual or entity, that restricts Employee’s ability to accept employment with or perform
any duties for, Company or to enter into this Agreement.
ARTICLE 2
Term and Termination

2.01 Term. Employee’s employment with Company is “at will.” Company may terminate Employee’s employment
at any time, with or without cause, without any prior notice during probation. Employee may terminate employment at all times
by providing 60 days written notice.
2.02 Offer Contingency. Employee’s offer, appointment and employment is contingent upon his /her / their successful
completion and clearance of the background verification process as required by company or its clients and the end client. Failure
to clear the background verification shall make this employment agreement null and void; in such an event, the employee shall
not be eligible for any pay accrued or estimated.
2.03 Company’s Rights. Company may terminate this Agreement for cause, without any prior notice, upon the
occurrence of any of the following events:
a) Upon an act of insubordination by Employee. “Insubordination” shall mean defiance to or disobedience of a
specific instruction, request, or demand of Company;
b) Upon Employee being found guilty of, or entering into a guilty plea to, a felony or misdemeanor involving fraud,
theft or moral turpitude;
c) Upon Company’s acquiring clear and convincing evidence of current illegal use of drugs or other controlled
substances by Employee or of Employee’s intoxication while performing services under this Agreement or on
Employer’s premises;
d) Upon Employee’s breach of any Company rule, regulation, or policy;
e) Upon Employee’s failure to perform Employee’s services under this Agreement or to do so in a competent and
diligent manner; For purposes of this agreement, "Cause" means the employee's gross misconduct resulting in
material damage to the company, willful insubordination or disobedience, theft, fraud or dishonesty, willful damage
or loss of employer’s property, bribery, and habitual lateness or absence, or any other willful and material breach
of this agreement.
f) In the event that the employee is not being able to furnish all the required documents as per the company’s clients
requirement for background check verification or is found to have submitted fake or fraudulent or malafide
documents, intentionally or unintentionally, or on failing a background verification check carried out on him/her
as per the client requirement, he/she will be terminated from the job with immediate effect without any pay and
shall not be able to claim any salary dues to be outstanding for any period of work performed; essentially forfeiting
their rights to claim for any wages/salary which may have been deemed to be payable or outstanding.
g) It is understood and agreed that the first 180 days of employment shall constitute a probationary period during
which period the employer may, in its absolute discretion, terminate the Employee's employment, without assigning
any reasons and without notice or cause. After the end of the Probationary Period, the employer may decide to
“confirm” the
employment of the employee, at its sole discretion. Such “confirmation” shall be explicit and in writing until which
the Probationary period is deemed to have been extended.
h) Employment of a “confirmed” employee can be terminated by both the parties at any time by providing the other
party with at least ONE month’s advance written notice of their intention to terminate the employment.

ARTICLE 3

Compensation, Location, Reporting and Benefits

3.01 Base Compensation: During Employee’s employment by Company, Company shall pay the employee

the annual wages (salary) as per the Offer dated October 04th

, 2023. The compensation shall be paid in accordance with
Company’s normal payroll practices (once a month, direct deposit; on or before the 10th day of each month for employment
during the previous calendar month) as they may exist from time to time solely and only on basis of approved timesheets; the
company has sole discretion and final authority to determine if the submitted timesheets qualify to be considered approved as
per company and/or its client’s policies. Employee’s employment commenced on October 5
th
,2023 IF background check has

been completed and acceptance of company and its clients’ policies.

3.02 Timesheets and Salary Calculations: Salary calculation of all the employees posted at client
sites/projects will be based on their timely submission of the company’s client approved timesheets, delay in submission of such
timesheets each week/month (as required) would lead to a delayed/deferred salary payment which shall be disbursed only upon
receiving the client approved timesheets as per company’s payroll policy and payroll cycle with the next salary cycle. Employee
understands and agrees that no wage/salary would be payable for the hours/days/months to an employee that has not been able
to submit client-approved timesheets for whatsoever reason. Employee further understands and agrees that not having approved
timesheets deems to work not performed and not payable for; client timesheets shall not be substituted by an email approval or
any email requests from the employee or the client.

3.02 (a ) Location and Reporting: Upon execution of this agreement, the employee would be posted at any
of the company’s or its client’s work locations. However, the reporting office for payroll and all other statutory compliances
would be the Mumbai office location. During the term period of this agreement, the company may change the employee's post
(or position) or location based on the company’s operation or working requirements or according to the employee's working
capacities and performance, including but not limited to adjustments made to the employee's job description or workplace,
promotion, work transfer at the same level, and demotion, etc., or adjustments made to the employee's responsibilities without
any change to employee's post (or position).

3.03 Benefits: Employee shall be entitled to the benefits as listed below; the company may change the

benefits from time to time as necessary :
a) The employee shall accrue 0.5 days of paid casual leave and 0.5 days of sick leave every month.
b) Accrued leaves shall only be available upon being confirmed as defined in Article 2. Any leaves availed during the
probation period shall be deductible from the salary.
c) Employee shall be entitled upto ten public holidays as per company’s leave policy or client declared public holidays
pursuant to the assignment of the employee and their duties and criticality of the functions performed by the
employee.
d) In the event that the employee is absent from work due to sickness or injury, he/she will follow the leave policy
and inform the designated person as soon as possible and will provide regular updates as to his/her recovery and as
far as practicable will inform the designated person of the employer of his/her expected date of return to work.
e) If the employee is absent from work due to sickness or injury for more than two consecutive days, he/she
must submit to the employer a medical certificate from his/her doctor and submit it to the employer.
f) For any period of absence due to sickness or injury the employee will be paid statutory sick pay only,
provided that he/she satisfies the relevant requirements. The employee’s qualifying days for statutory sick
pay purposes are Monday to Friday.
g) As an employee, you and your immediate family (as defined in policy by the insurance provider) may be a
part of our group medical insurance coverage as applicable from time to time. This coverage may start upon
successful completion of one month of complete attendance, from your date of joining.

ARTICLE 4

Duties, Responsibilities and Outside Activities

Employee agrees that during Employee’s employment with the Company, Employee shall not engage in any other
employment or outside business activity and shall not acquire any proprietary interest in any venture whose activities, in the sole
determination of Company or its clients, may be considered to compete with Company or be potentially detrimental to Company.
Employee shall render such services as are assigned by Company and you will work under the direction and instruction
of _______ Pvt Ltd management/staff with respect to the subject matter of any assignment. You acknowledge and agree
that _______ Pvt Ltd is your employer and is responsible for hiring, firing, assigning, reassigning, scheduling, evaluating,
disciplining, and counseling you, and for paying your wages. Any issues, concerns, or complaints that you have with respect to
your employment should be raised with your reporting manager or Human Resources (as applicable) at the company and not to
the company’s clients or its representatives. You shall be working from the office of the company or its clients or as mutually
agreed from time to time. Upon execution of the agreement, the employee shall not engage in any sort of theft, fraud,
misrepresentation, or any other illegal act neither in the employment space nor outside the premise of employment. If he/she
shall do so, the company shall not be liable for such an act done at his/ her own risk. The employee further promises to never
engage in any theft of the employer’s property or attempt to defraud the employer in any manner. The employee shall always
ensure that his/her conduct is in accordance with all the rules, regulations, and policies of the company as notified from time to
time. The employee shall not take up part-time or full-time employment or consultation with any other party or be involved in
any other business during the term of his/her employment with the Company.

The employee shall always ensure that his/her conduct is in accordance with all the rules, regulations and policies of
the company as notified from time to time, including but not limited to leave policy and Sexual Harassment Policy. The employer
hereby prohibits the employee from engaging in any sexual harassment and the employee promises to refrain from any form of
sexual harassment during the course of employment in and around the premise of employment including but not limited to the
client sites. If the employee violates this term in the agreement, he shall be fully responsible for his/her actions and the employer
shall not be held responsible for any illegal acts committed at the discretion of the employee.
ARTICLE 5

Non-Competition and Non-Solicitation

5.01 Non-Competition. Employee agrees that during Employee’s employment by Company, and for two (2) years
following the termination of Employee’s employment for any reason, Employee shall not, directly or indirectly, work or
engage as an employee, agent, consultant, owner, stockholder, partner or otherwise for or with any individual or entity that is a
client, vendor, or supplier of Company and its client. This paragraph shall survive the termination or the expiration of this
Agreement.
5.02 Non-Solicitation. Employee agrees that during Employee’s employment by Company, and for two (2) years
following the termination of Employee’s employment for any reason, Employee shall not, directly or indirectly, solicit, accept,
contact, or divert any of Company’s clients, vendors, suppliers, employees, consultants, candidates or prospects for
employment or engagement, or staffing contracts, or otherwise take away or attempt to take away from Company any business
Company had or was actively soliciting during Employee’s employment, without regard to whether Employee introduced any
such individual or entity to Company. Employee further agrees that during Employee’s employment with Company and for
two (2) years following the termination of Employee’s employment for any reason, Employee will not, directly or indirectly,
induce or attempt to induce any Company employee, consultant, contractor, candidate, or prospect to terminate his or her
employment, contract, or business relationship with Company, or, directly or indirectly, otherwise solicit or divert from
Company any such individual. This paragraph shall survive the termination or expiration of this Agreement.
5.03 Non-Disparagement. Employee agrees that during and subsequent to Employee’s employment by Company,
Employee shall not make any statement or take any action that impairs or reasonably may be expected to impair the goodwill
or the business reputation of Company or to be otherwise detrimental to the interests of Company.
5.04 Remedies. In the event of a breach by Employee of Sections 5.01, 5.02 or 5.03, Employee agrees that Company
will be irreparably harmed, thus entitling Company to injunctive relief enjoining Employee from further breaching this
Agreement, in addition to any monetary damages and other relief to which Company may be entitled at law or in equity.

ARTICLE 6
Confidentiality

6.01 Information Concerning this Agreement. Employee agrees that Employee shall not disclose any of the terms
or provisions of this Agreement to third parties (including other employees of Company) without the prior written consent of
Company.
6.02 Confidential and Proprietary Information. Employee agrees that all Confidential and Proprietary Information
of Company and Company’s clients, whether or not in writing, that is learned by Employee during Employee’s employment by
Company, is secret and shall not be disclosed. Confidential and Proprietary Information shall mean, but is not limited to, any
information consisting of or concerning, referring, or relating to customer lists, customer contacts, and requirements, employee,
consultant, and candidate lists, prospect lists, vendors, suppliers, business information, strategic plans, business dealings, ideas,
processes, designs, improvements, concepts, methods, common procedures, techniques, written material, know-how not
generally known in the trade or industry, company records, protocols, programs and other similar information that is part of
Company or its clients. Employee agrees that all confidential and proprietary information is the property of the Company or its
clients, as the case may be. Employee agrees that Employee’s obligation to treat all Confidential and Proprietary Information as
secret shall survive the termination of Employee’s employment with Company. In the event of the termination of Employee’s
employment with Company, Employee shall return to Company within twenty-four (24) hours of such termination any and all
Confidential and Proprietary Information in Employee’s possession, custody, or control.
6.03 Remedies. In the event of a breach by Employee of Sections 6.01 or 6.02, Employee agrees that Company
will be irreparably harmed, thus entitling Company to injunctive relief enjoining Employee from further breaching this
Agreement, in addition to any monetary damages and other relief to which Company may be entitled at law or in equity.

ARTICLE 7
Ownership of Intellectual Property

7.01 Assignment of Intellectual Property. Employee agrees that Employee will promptly make full written
disclosure to Company and hold in trust for the sole right and benefit of Company, and hereby assigns to Company, or its
designee, all of Employee’s right, title and interest throughout the world in and to any and all inventions, original works of
authorship, developments, concepts, know-how, improvements or trade secrets, whether or not patentable or register able under
copyright or similar laws, which Employee may solely or jointly conceive or develop or reduce to practice, or cause to be
conceived or developed or reduced to practice during Employee’s employment by Company that (A) relate at the time of
conception or development to the actual or demonstrably proposed business or research and development activities of Company,
(B) result from or relate to any work performed for or on behalf of Company, whether or not during normal business hours, or
(C) are developed through the use of Confidential and Proprietary Information (collectively referred to as “Inventions”).
Employee further acknowledges that all inventions, original works of authorship, developments, concepts, know-how,
improvements or trade secrets which are made by Employee, solely or jointly with others, within the scope of and during the
period of employment with Company are “works made for hire” (to the greatest extent permitted by applicable law) and are
compensated according to the agreement, unless regulated otherwise by law.
7.02 Patent and Copyright Rights. Employee agrees to assist Company, or its designee, at Company’s expense, in
every way to secure Company’s rights in the Inventions and any copyrights thereto in any and all countries, including the
disclosure to Company of all pertinent information and data with respect thereto, the execution of all applications, specifications,
oaths, assignments, recordation’s, and all other instruments which Company may deem necessary in order to apply for, obtain,
maintain and transfer such rights and in order to assign and convey to Company, its successors, assigns and nominees the sole
and exclusive rights, title and interest in and to such Inventions, and any copyrights, patents, mask work rights, or other
intellectual property rights relating thereto Employee further agrees that Employee’s obligation to execute or cause to be
executed, when it is in Employee’s power to do so, any such instrument or papers shall continue after the termination of this
Agreement until the expiration of the last such intellectual property right to expire in any country of the world.
If Company is unable because of Employee’s mental or physical incapacity or unavailability for any other reason to secure
Employee’s signature to apply for or to pursue any application for any United States or foreign patents or copyright
registrations governing Inventions or original works of authorship assigned to Company, Employee then hereby irrevocably
designates and appoints Company and its duly authorized officers and agents as Employee’s agent and attorney in fact, to act
for and on Employee’s behalf and stead to execute and file any such applications and to do all other lawfully permitted acts to
further the application for, prosecution, issuance, maintenance or transfer of letters patent or copyright registrations thereon
with the same legal force and effect as if originally executed by Employee. Employee hereby waives and irrevocably quit
claims to Company any and all claims, of any nature whatsoever, which Employee now or hereafter has for infringement of
any and all proprietary rights assigned to Company.

ARTICLE 8
Indemnification

Employee covenants and agrees to indemnify and hold harmless Company from and against any claims, demands,
actions or other proceedings against Company and all expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs), judgments,
fines, and settlements actually incurred by Company arising out of or relating to a misrepresentation by Employee or breach by
Employee of warranty, covenant or agreement set forth in this Agreement. This obligation shall survive the termination or
expiration of the Employee’s employment with the Company.
ARTICLE 9
Miscellaneous

9.01 Governing Law. This Agreement has been executed and delivered in and shall be interpreted, construed, and
enforced pursuant to and in accordance with the laws of the State of Maharashtra, without regard to the conflicts of law principles
of any State.
9.02 Assignment. This Agreement shall not be assignable by Employee.
9.03 Waiver of Breach. The waiver by either party of a breach or a violation of any provision of this Agreement
shall not operate as, or be construed to be, a waiver of any subsequent breach of the same or other provision hereof.
9.04 Attorneys Fees. In the event of any action arising from or related to this Agreement, Employee shall be liable
and pay to Company the reasonable attorney’s fees incurred by the Company in connection with such litigation if a court
determines that Employee has breached this Agreement.
9.05 Personal Jurisdiction. Any and all actions arising out of or related to this Agreement and the employment
relationship between Company and Employee shall be filed in a court in the State of Maharashtra, Mumbai venue.
9.06 Severability. In the event any provision or any part thereof of this Agreement is held to be unenforceable for
any reason, such determination shall not affect the remainder of the provision or this Agreement, which shall remain in full
force and effect and enforceable in accordance with its terms. In the event of the invalidity of a provision or any part thereof,
the Parties hereto hereby agree to accept a provision that reflects as closely as possible the intention of the invalid provision
that does not offend any law. Furthermore, if there is any change in applicable law such that this Agreement is otherwise
interpreted as violating applicable laws, rules or regulations, the Parties will restructure this Agreement so that this Agreement
is in compliance with existing laws and to the extent possible, the restructured Agreement will reflect the same substantive
terms as this Agreement.
9.07 Amendments. No amendment or modification of this Agreement shall be binding unless it is in writing signed
by the Parties hereto.
9.08 Entire Agreement. This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement and understanding between the parties
hereto relating to the subject matter hereof and supersedes and take the place of all other agreements and understandings, written
or oral, of the Parties.
9.09 Other Terms. Upon separation from the company on account of either resignation or termination, you need to
immediately return to the company all assets and properties of the company including but not limited to laptops, other hardware,
documents, files, books, papers, and memos in your possession or custody. The terms of this offer are meant to be kept strictly
confidential.

From India, Hyderabad
Dinesh Divekar
7879

Dear member,

Rather than just copying the contents relevant to your query, you copied the entire contents of your appointment letter and pasted them here. However, while doing so, four times the name and address of your company were disclosed. I wish you had learnt how to review or modify the document. By disclosing the name of your company, you took a great risk. For the disclosure of the contents of the appointment letter on the public forum, the company could have sued you. Anyway, the second time I edited your post and deleted your company's details.

The paragraph about the notice period during probation is 2.01. This clause demands the probationer to give a notice of sixty days for the separation. Since you have accepted the appointment letter, giving a notice period of 60 days is binding on you. If you don't serve, then the company could create a problem for you.

General comments for the HR professionals: - Paragraph 2.01 demands the employee to serve for 60 days on resigning. However, the same requirement is not binding on the company. The company can terminate the services of the employee with or without notice period. The appointment letter is a contract between the employer and the employee and the essence of the contract lies in placing both parties at par. However, as this contract violates the principles of equality, it does not stand the scrutiny of the Indian Contracts Act, of 1872. The appointment letter appears to have been drafted by the legal professional. By creating a one-sided agreement, the legal professional appears to have thrown his/her legal acumen to the wind. If the legal professional is at fault, so is the HR Head of the company. To understand the conditions imposed are one-sided one need not know the law. Those who talk loudly about employee engagement or emotional intelligence, have faltered at the grounding principles on which organisation is raised.

The final comments for NB Shankar: - As written in the paragraph preceding above, the conditions of paragraph 2.01 are one-sided. These may not serve the test of the Indian Contracts Act, of 1872. Therefore, should the company sue you for not serving the notice period, you can defend your case. However, the court cases move at a snail's pace in India. Secondly, much depends on the forcefulness with which your lawyer pleads your case. Therefore, whether to serve the notice period or not is a call you need to take judiciously.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

From India, Bangalore
nb-shankar
Hi Sir, Can you please delete the company name and my address in first paragraph. Thank you,
From India, Hyderabad
Dinesh Divekar
7879

Dear member,

Not just in the first paragraph, but the company's name was mentioned twice in Article 4. I have deleted it. Additionally, I have deleted your name in my replies as well.

You have given a reply to my last post. It is Sl. No. 5 of this thread. You had typed your name there. I have deleted it. Please make this post anonymous.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

From India, Bangalore
saswatabanerjee
2392

Dinesh-ji
Equality is not a requirement of contract law in india. So to that extent the agreement / contract / appointment letter is perfectly valid. All that is required is : Offer, acceptance and consideration. Consideration in this case is the salary agreed upon and the promise to serve.

However, Mr. Shankar, you do not need to worry about the clauses that are in the agreement (as in your original post). It has no validity in india. Specially, non-compete clause is applicable only if you have sold your company to them and got a goodwill payment for it, which is obviously not in your case. Neither will the non solicitation clauses hold true.

You can just laugh it off and tell them to get their 'injunctive order'

Notice period is probably a bigger problem for you, but again, it is unlikely they will enforce it.
Cost of doing it is probably higher than the recoverable value.

From India, Mumbai
Dinesh Divekar
7879

Dear Mr Saswata Banerjee,

Under the provisions of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, an appointment letter is a contract between the employer and the employee. If the appointment letter mentions an unequal notice period for the cessation of employment for the employer and employee, then the contract is unfair and arbitrary. Such contracts are not tenable under the said act.

However, as stated in my earlier post, it requires legal expertise to prove the unfairness or arbitrariness of the contract in court. Much depends on the force the lawyer exerts through his/her arguments to sway the court ruling in his/her favour. For further reference, you may refer to 1986 SCR (2) 278.

If the unequal notice periods were to be tenable then it would have given a field day to the employers. For the cessation of employment, they would not have imposed the condition of giving the 90-day notice on the employee. It could have been a year also. While serving the notice period, the employer would have terminated the employment contract without any liabilities.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

From India, Bangalore
saswatabanerjee
2392

Dinesh-ji,

Yes, the lawyers have a way to twist things their way...
However, there have been many cases before the courts in connection with unequal powers of parties to the contract. The case you have pointed out, CENTRAL INLAND WATER TRANSPORTCORPORATION LTD. & ANR. ETC. Vs. BROJO NATH GANGULY & ANR., the judgement was given more so because of the fact that the petitioner was a government owned company that is liable to article 14 of constitution.

In other cases, courts have struck down contracts that are 'unconsciousable and oppressive', which is not the case here. Just a difference in period of notice does not fall under that particular requirement.

On the other hand, not giving notice period may actually be a violation of Standing Orders and other provisions that will have its own impact on the validity of the appointment letter.

Again, to clarify, I repeat that the 4 clauses the OP first put, all are disallowed under Sec 27, which makes any agreement in restraint of lawful trade and employment as void.

From India, Mumbai
Dinesh Divekar
7879

Dear Mr Saswata Banerjee,

I refer to your replies posted as Sl No 7 and 9 of this thread. My reply is about the unequal notice period. I wish to draw your attention to the following Supreme Court case:

McDermott International Inc. V. Burn Standard Co Ltd., (2006) 11 SCC 181 & ONGC Ltd v. Saw Pipes Ltd [(2003) 5 SCC 705]

The Court while dealing with the unequal bargaining power of the workmen and the employer came to the conclusion that any term of the agreement which is patently arbitrary and/or arrived at because of the unequal bargaining power would not only be ultra vires Article 14 of the Constitution of India but also hit by Section 23 of the Indian Contract Act.

Therefore, unequal employment terms are not acceptable while issuing the appointment letter.

Regards,

Dinesh Divekar

From India, Bangalore
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