SHAKEEL AHMAD ZAIDI vs SECRETARY, HIGHER EDUCATION, GOVERNMENT OF PUNJAB, LAHORE Locus poenitentiae, principle

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SHAKEEL AHMAD ZAIDI VS SECRETARY, HIGHER EDUCATION, GOVERNMENT OF PUNJAB, LAHORE Locus poenitentiae, principle of---Applicability and exception---Special Allowance paid to employees through an unlawful order, when they were not entitled for the same---Whether such allowance could be recovered from the salaries of the employees---Held, that that by its very terms, the notification on the basis of which Special Allowance was paid to 'Lecturers' was not applicable to the appellants, who were 'Instructors'---Language of the notification in question was clear and unambiguous, therefore the argument of the appellants that they were unaware that they were being paid an allowance to which they were not lawfully entitled was not convincing---Claim of the appellants that they had bona fidely received the Special Allowance did not ring true---Apparently the appellants started receiving the amount, knowing that it was not payable to them but they kept silent---Any man of ordinary prudence who was aware of the notification should have known that the amount being paid to him was in excess of what was lawfully due to him---Furthermore the order to pay Special Allowance to the appellants was not a lawful order nor was it passed by a competent authority---Therefore, whether or not the appellants had received the same bona fidely was not of much consequence in view of the fact that the order in question had not lawfully been passed by a competent authority, which was necessary to seek the benefit of the exception to the rule of locus poenitentiae---High Court had valid reasons and lawful justification to direct that further payment of the allowance to the appellants had to stop, and also to recover the same in easy instalments from them so as not to overly burden them financially---Appeals were dismissed. Citation Name: 2021 PLC(CS) 560 SUPREME-COURTBookmark this Case SHAKEEL AHMAD ZAIDI VS SECRETARY, HIGHER EDUCATION, GOVERNMENT OF PUNJAB, LAHORE applicability and exception---Benefit/allowance paid under a mistake, recovery of---Only where lawful orders had been passed by an authority having the power to do so under the relevant law and a person bona fide received a benefit under the said law without any positive action on his part, such beneficiary could claim a right under the exception to the principle of locus poenitentiae and claim that the benefit bona fide received by him by virtue of a lawful order passed by the competent authority (which at the relevant time and for its duration till its withdrawal was lawfully passed by an authority competent to pass such order) could not subsequently be recovered by virtue of the protection available under the exception to the said rule.

SHAKEEL AHMAD ZAIDI vs SECRETARY, HIGHER EDUCATION, GOVERNMENT OF PUNJAB, LAHORE Locus poenitentiae, principle of — 2021 PLC(CS) 560 SUPREME-COURT

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