HIGHER EDUCATION COMMISSION through Project Director, Islamabad vs Dr — 2025 PLD 41 ISLAMABAD

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HIGHER EDUCATION COMMISSION through Project Director, Islamabad VS Dr. NOUSHEEN IRAM S. 100---Contract---Surety bond---Declaration of assets of the guarantor accompanying the surety bond---Charges---Abatement of the suit against deceased guarantor---Scope---Higher Education Commission (HEC) filed suit for recovery of the scholarship funds extended to a scholar, claiming that breach of the scholarship agreement was occasioned as the defendant/scholar did not serve in Pakistan for 5 years in terms of the scholarship agreement after completion of her Ph.D degree---Plaintiff/HEC filed constitutional petition being aggrieved of an order passed by the Trial Court whereby abatement of the suit against defendant/guarantor, due to his death, was ordered---Plea of the respondent (defendant/scholar) was that her father (defendant), who stood as a guarantor for her, had passed away before the suit was filed---Argument of the petitioner (HEC), with reference to the declaration of assets of the guarantor accompanying the surety bond, was that the guarantor's property was subject to a charge and was burdened with the obligation under the guarantee---Validity---Said argument was not supported by the language of the declaration---Applying the settled principle that an instrument of guarantee is to be strictly construed, there should have been express language in the surety bond or in the declaration of assets if such assets were to be charged with the obligation under the surety bond for the liability to travel with the assets irrespective of their ownership by the guarantor or his legal heirs---For a charge to be inferred, some express language to that effect must appear in the instrument itself---On its proper construction in terms of S. 100 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, the instrument of declaration of assets was only furnished to demonstrate that the guarantor was a man of means capable of satisfying the obligation under the bond, but a declaration of sufficiency of assets does not per se entail that those assets have been secured for the purposes of discharge of an obligation under an instrument of guarantee or bond---Resultantly, the impugned order was correct to conclude that the suit to the extent of defendant/ guarantor (father of scholar) was to abate on his death---Constitutional petition, filed by Higher Education Commission, was dismissed.

HIGHER EDUCATION COMMISSION through Project Director, Islamabad vs Dr — 2025 PLD 41 ISLAMABAD

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