Mst. NAZEER BIBI vs HIGHER EDUCATION COMMISSION, ISLAMABAD S — 2023 CLC 1860 ISLAMABAD

Fields are extracted from the reported citation and judgment text. Where a detail is not stated in the record, it is not shown.

Mst. NAZEER BIBI VS HIGHER EDUCATION COMMISSION, ISLAMABAD S.10(i)(r)---Higher Education Commission---Scholarship agreement---Recovery of money---Policy decision---Retrospective applicability---Relief not claimed---Effect---Petitioner / defendant / student availed scholarship under Ph.D. fellowship program---Respondent / plaintiff / Higher Education Commission filed suit for recovery of Rs.1,033,854/- against petitioners / defendants---Trial Court decreed the suit in favour of respondent / plaintiff---Validity---At the time of award of fellowship in question, there was no limit for a maximum number of students that a Supervisor could enroll with himself---Circular dated 10-03-2006 was issued only when petitioner / defendant / student had already been enrolled with the Supervisor---It was not petitioner / respondent / student's fault to give a go-bye to his ongoing scholarship/Ph.D studies, rather it was the University and/or the Higher Education Commission (HEC) which compelled him to quit his studies---Retrospective application of such policy decision of Advance Studies and Research Board on petitioner / defendant / surety was not only unjust, unreasonable but also something beyond any understanding---Higher Education Commission Supervisors were authorized to supervise Ph.D scholars/students---Higher Education Commission on its own adjudged the amount of expenditure spent on petitioner / defendant / student---There was no mention of actual amount in the plaint spent on petitioner / defendant / student's scholarship---There was also nothing on the record which would show that the funds released by HEC were actually utilized by the university on petitioner / defendant / student's scholarship---Trial Court decreed HEC's suit with 25% increase at the rate of prevailing bank mark-up of decretal amount i.e. Rs. 1,033,854/- from the date of the institution of the suit till realization of the actual amount---No such prayer was made by HEC in the suit regarding bank mark-up---No issue with respect to mark-up was framed by Trial Court but Trial Court exceeded its jurisdiction and granted the relief, which had in fact, not been sought for in the plaint---Suit was decreed as prayed for in addition to 25% bank mark-up and Trial Court should not have decreed the suit in its entirety---At best, Trial Court could have decreed the suit only to the extent of amount/expenditures spent on petitioner / defendant / student during his studies under the supervision---High Court set aside judgments and decrees passed by the two Courts below, which suffered from material irregularity---Constitutional petition was allowed accordingly.

Mst. NAZEER BIBI vs HIGHER EDUCATION COMMISSION, ISLAMABAD S — 2023 CLC 1860 ISLAMABAD

Case information

Judgment text as reported

Other judgments reported in 2023 CLC