CA Articleship terminated over draft increment letter issue — firm withholding Form 109 and alleging fraud despite no FIR/charges. Need advice.
Hi everyone,
I’m a 20-year-old articled assistant pursuing CA articleship and I need some guidance regarding a situation that has become extremely stressful and is now affecting my career.
A few months ago, a former employee/senior from my CA firm contacted me. He said he had received two salary increments during his employment but only had documentary proof of one increment letter. According to him, he had already asked the firm/HR for the second increment letter but didn’t receive it.
He then asked me to help prepare a draft of the second increment letter based on the details he gave me. I made a Word draft using the firm’s letterhead and updated the contents accordingly. However:
- I never forged/copied any signature,
- never used any firm stamp/seal,
- and the document was never officially issued or used anywhere.
Later, the firm came to know about this.
At that stage, the partners basically gave me two options:
File a police complaint/FIR against the ex-employee and continue in the firm subject to extension of my articleship till Dec 2026 (my original completion was July 2026), OR
If no FIR was filed, I would be terminated and legal action would be taken against me.
To save my articleship/career, we approached the police to file a complaint against the ex-employee. However, the police refused to register an FIR because according to them:
- the document was never issued,
- never used anywhere,
- and therefore no actual offence/crime had happened.
Still, an application was submitted seeking investigation. Statements of both me and the ex-employee were recorded. In my statement I explained the entire chronology honestly.
The police specifically asked the ex-employee whether he had received or used the alleged increment letter anywhere, and he stated that he had neither received nor used any such document. Based on this, the police closed the matter at that stage saying no offence appeared to have occurred.
After this, the firm took me back and made me continue working on the condition that I serve the extended articleship period. They also said they might independently pursue police/legal action later if wrongdoing was found.
I then continued working in the firm for several more months (up to April). During this time:
- I worked normally,
- helped with office handovers/work,
- but my stipend from around Nov–March was allegedly not paid.
After continuing work for months, the firm then:
- issued a Show Cause Notice against me,
- alleged fraud/fabrication/confidentiality breach,
- and finally terminated my articleship and cleared the pending stipend too.
Now:
- there are still no criminal charges proved against me,
- police investigation outcome from the later complaint is still apparently pending,
- but the firm is allegedly delaying Form 109 formalities, due to which I cannot register under a new principal and continue my articleship.
I fully admit that preparing the draft on the letterhead was a lapse in judgment and professionally wrong. But there was:
- no signature forgery,
- no stamp/seal misuse,
- no issuance/use of document,
- and no financial gain.
At this point I need advice on:
Whether the firm can legally withhold/delay Form 109 like this,
Whether this can realistically become a criminal forgery/fraud case,
Whether ICAI disciplinary proceedings can directly proceed against an article,
Whether withholding stipend while taking work is legally sustainable,
What practical steps I should take now to protect my career.
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TL;DR
CA article prepared a draft increment letter on firm letterhead for an ex-employee (no forged signature/stamp, never used anywhere). Police initially refused FIR saying no offence occurred because document wasn’t used/issued. Firm later took article back, made him work for months without paying some stipend, then terminated him and is allegedly delaying Form 109 while threatening ICAI/legal action. Need advice on legality and next steps.