By Nizar Kochery/Doha
QUESTION: A cheque has been dishonoured because there were not sufficient funds in the issuer’s bank account. What legal action is possible against him other than on cheating grounds under criminal laws?
JH, Doha
ANSWER: According to Article 603 of the Qatar Trade Laws, without prejudice to any severe penalty provided for in the Criminal Code or any other law, any drawee issuing a statement willfully and contrary to the truth that there are no funds against payment of a cheque, or that the funds against payment are less than it actually holds who commits will be punished by a fine of not less than QR5,000 and not more than QR20,000.
This punishment will not prevent the compensation to which the drawer is entitled for the damage he suffers and that impacts his credit as a result of failure to pay. Moreover under Article 604, the court may order withdrawal of the cheque book from the convicted person and prevent him from being given new cheque books for a period not exceeding one year.
The Public Prosecution will publish the names of the convicted persons in the Official Gazette and state their occupations and domiciles and the penalties imposed on them.
Review request of judgement
Q: Is a review of judgement possible under Qatar Laws if new documents that were not available during the case in the first instance are received? Will a false testimony change a judgement?
AS, Doha
A: Article 178 of the Commercial and Civil Procedure Code – No13 of 1990 provides that the litigants may submit a review request of the final judgement if the petitioner received, after the issue of the judgement, decisive documents in the action that his litigant refrained from submitting them. Also review will happen if the judgement was founded on a false testimony of the witness, which was later judged as false.
Non-payment of loan
Q: An Indian employee in my company has borrowed QR100,000 from me and he has left Qatar without paying it back. I don’t have any written document to prove the payment. Is it possible to take any legal action against him through the Indian embassy?
AD, Doha
A: The Indian embassy has no judicial powers. You can file a suit in the Qatar courts by providing his address in India. The defendant will be summoned through the diplomatic channel. You may also request the court to administer a crucial oath to the defendant in his country by way of judicial delegation. As per procedures, the Qatar court will request the courts of the defendant’s country to take judicial delegation to direct the oath to the defendant. If the defendant swears on the oath and denies your allegation, the suit will be quashed. However, if he refuses to swear, a judgement will be delivered against him.
Leave wages
Q: I plan to avail of my annual leave and maybe I won’t return. One of my colleagues informs me that the company will not provide the leave salary before vacation; normally leave salary is paid after coming back and the return ticket amount is reimbursed on submission of the ticket’s copy. Is this legally valid? Our HR manager says that it’s the company policy.
PK, Doha
A: According to Article 68 of the Labour Law, workers are entitled for leave wages before leaving for vacation. The worker should be paid outstanding and leave wages before his annual leave.
Disciplinary penalties
Q: According to the labour law, an employer can terminate his employee without stating any reason. Can an employer initiate disciplinary action against his employee without stating any reason? In our firm, workers are penalised for no reason. As per law, who is legally authorised to take any disciplinary action against the employee?
TK, Doha
A: Article 62 of the Labour Law provides guidelines in inflicting penalties on violating workers. The disciplinary penalties shall not be inflicted except by the employer, his authorised representative or the manager of the establishment.
The worker shall not be penalised before his being informed of the accusation against him and being inquired into in writing. The inquiry may be oral in the case of minor violations provided that the report of inquiry shall be filed in the record of the particular register of the worker.
Moreover, the worker shall not be penalised otherwise than for a violation directly related to the work whether committed during the work and in its place or outside.
*Please send your questions by e-mail to : [email protected] (Mobile:55813105)
LEGAL SYSTEM IN QATAR
According to Article 172, if the carriage document is not issued, the carrier shall, upon the request of the consignor, deliver a signed acknowledgement as the receipt of the consignment. Such receipt shall be dated and shall contain sufficient particulars necessary for identification of the goods and freight charges.
The consignor shall deliver the goods and necessary carrier document for the performance of the carriage to the carrier.
If the carriage requires special preparations for the carriage, the consignor shall notify the carrier prior to the time of delivery.
As per Article 174, where the nature of the consignment requires special preparations for the carriage, the consignor shall perform necessary preparation to protect against any damage or destruction to the extent that it shall not expose any person or other goods to damage.
The consignor shall be liable for damage that arising from defective packing. The carrier shall not deny liability for destruction or damage of a consignment due to the defect of packing of other consignment.
The carrier shall have the right to inspect the goods to ascertain their condition and the correctness of the particular presented by the consignor. Opening of the packaging or opening of the parcels for the inspection shall be done in the presence of the consignor. If the consignor fails to attend within an appropriate time after being notified to do so, the carrier may perform this inspection in good faith in the absence of the consignor, and the carrier shall have recourse to the consignor for the expenses of the inspection.
The consignor shall pay to the carrier the freight charges with other expenses, unless it is agreed that such expense shall be borne by the consignee. In this case, the consignor and the consignee will be jointly liable for the payment of freight and expenses. The carrier shall not be entitled to ant freight in respect of consignment destroyed by force majeure.
Article 177 stipulates that while the consignment is in possession of the carrier, the consignor may instruct to return or dispatch to a person other than the original consignee, provided the consignor shall pay the charges for the carriage and compensate the carrier for the expenses and damages. The said right shall not be exercised by the consignor, If the consignor fails to produce the carriage document or the consignment has arrived at the destination and consignee has notified to take delivery. Such right shall be transferred to the consignee on receipt of carriage document.
