Retention Of "prior" Experience Certificate

Hi

I joined a company couple of years back and at the time of recruitment, they took my "original" experience certificate of my prior employer in thier custody. As I never have seen such a process in my prior experiences - I was bit reluctant but was convinced about this as a standard practise at this company.

At the time of resignation, while issuing the relieving order / experience certificate, the HR team politely refused to give back the old experience certificate in their possession. Inspite of arguing my level best, I could not get back my OLD original certificate - telling me that it is the part of their "records".....!!

Can some one enlighten me -
(1) if this is a standard HR practise AND the logic behind it ?
(2) How does the "experience" certificate issued by another company to the EX employee of a company constitute a "record" for this company ?
(3) Is there any forum thru' which I can lodge a complaint and take back my original certificate (in case of situations like getting US Visa, one should possess all the experience certificates IN ORIGINAL).

Regards // Suren

Dear Suren,
Do you have documents to prove the submission of the "Original Experience Certificate", if yes, you can challenge legally.
Normally, such practice is not followed in most of the industries.
Keeping the Original Marks Card in their custody to avoid unanticipated labour attrition is common in industries but not Original Experience Certificate of the Ex Employer .
As per my knowledge goes, this is not a standard HR practise.
To record your profile, i don't think, they require the originals in their custody
You can lodge a complaint with the concerned authority, only if you can prove the submission of the Original Experience Certificate.

Thanks Felix.
Two questions :
(1) The appointment letter given by this company clearly asks to submit "the experience certificate from the previous employer - in original" as a part of joining formalities (of course, along with few other things like copy of mark sheets and academic certificates). I am unsure if this letter - by itself - is a proof that you are indicating.
(2) Who is the concerned authority ?
Suren