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 Ss. 129 & 131---Contract---Surety bond---Continuing guarantee---Liability beyond death---Scope---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---Argument of the petitioner (plaintiff/HEC), referring to S. 131 of the Contract Act 1872, was that the guarantee was a continuing guarantee in that several installments of scholarship funds were paid and the revocation of a continuing guarantee was expressed subject to a contract to the contrary, and that the language purporting to bind the legal heirs was to be taken to be a contract to the contrary---Validity---Said contention/interpretation did not follow because S. 129 of the Contract Act, 1872 defines a continuing guarantee as one winch extends to a series of transactions, whereas, in the present case, the transaction was only one, namely, the funding of the scholarship---Petitioner's argument would have carried substance if the guarantor spanned various scholarships from time to time, but there was only one scholarship for one course of study and the mere fact that the scholarship funds were released in installments to correlate with the fee payment schedule of the University did not make it a continuing guarantee for such reason alone---Even assuming that the surety bond in question was a continuing guarantee, the language on which HEC relied was ineffective to bind the legal heirs---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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