Plea before Telangana High Court to declare employment bond signed with private company as illegal

The Telangana High Court recently issued notice to the State government and its Labour department on a petition to declare the employment bonds signed by the former employee of a Hyderabad-based private company as illegal, arbitrary, and unconstitutional. .Justice B Vijaysen Reddy also issued notice to the Algonox Technologies Pvt Ltd where the petitioner Rajesh Potnuru worked from 2019 till he was relieved in November last year.Potnuru (27) told the Court that he was not relieved from his job when he decided to resign in August 2023.Instead, citing the bond, he was asked to first serve 90 days and pay ₹5.9 lakh to terminate the bond, it was contended.He was relieved only in November 2023 after his dues were withheld and an amount of ₹1.34 Lakh was taken from him, the plea alleged..According to the petition, Potnuru between June 2019 and August 2019 was an intern with Algonox Technologies and later received an appointment letter dated September 1, 2019.A month after the joining, he received another document titled "Annexure to main offer–Additional Terms and Conditions" through which he was made to sign a two-year employment bond.Similarly, after the expiration of the initial two-year bond, another one-year bond was issued in 2021, followed by another two-year bond in 2022These employment bonds included a clause stipulating a penalty of ₹5 lakh in case of a breach along with an 18% GST obligation, the plea stated..When the petitioner decided to resign on August 11, 2023, the employer via email allegedly told him that unless he pays the ₹5.9 lakh for breaching the bond, his resignation will not be accepted. He then approached the Telangana Labour Commissioner's Office and also filed a representation with the Rangareddy District Joint Commissioner of Labour. "While a joint meeting was called for citing the representation made by the petitioner, the employer attended one meeting, then threatened the petitioner outside the office with dire consequences personally and for future employment aspects, and extorted the said money of 5.9 INR in total from the petitioner by not paying the petitioner 03 (three) months’ salary upon resignation, withholding paid leave encashment and additionally making the petitioner pay another 1,35,853 (one lakh thirty four thousand and either hundred fifty three rupees)," the plea alleged. .Alleging that the representation has remained pending with the Telangana Labour Commissioner’s office, the plea sought a decision on the same and also submission of an action taken report before the Court.The petitioner also sought imposition of a cost of ₹25 lakh on the company to be paid to the Legal Services Authority of the High Court for "indulging in bonded labour system in India, against the democratic norms & human values, well settled legal provisions".In particular, the plea alleged violation of Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act and Telangana State Shops and Establishments Act, 1988."Making an employee sign another additional document of agreement, after starting employment, is illegal and coercive tactics of Respondent No. 3 [ the company] and violation of Section 66 (Void contracts) of the Telangana Shops and Establishments Act, 1988," the plea contended..Advocate Vijay Gopal represents the petitioner.