Attorney General v Pandy

• Jurisdiction: Belize
• Court: Supreme Court (Belize)
• Judge: Barrington-Jones, J.
• Judgment Date: 31 March 1980
• Docket Number: Action No. 141 of 1978
• Date: 31 March 1980

Supreme Court

Barrington-Jones, J.

Action No. 141 of 1978

Attorney General

and

Pandy

The Solicitor General for the plaintiff.

Mr. Denys Barrow for the defendant.

Contract - Bond for award of scholarship — Defendant breached terms of bond by resigning from the Civil Service two and a half years after returning to Belize and failed to repay portion of the funds expended by the government — Quantum.

Barrington-Jones, J.

1 The defendant in this action was a civil servant and an assistant lecturer at the Belize Teacher's College when in 1970 he was selected for the award of a Professional and Technical Scholarship, and recommended for an accountancy course in the United Kingdom. On the 9th September, 1970 a bond was executed by the defendant in the sum of $8,001.82, wherein a number of conditions in respect of the award of the scholarship were set out, but I will return to these later. Thereafter, the defendant went off to the United Kingdom in September, 1970 and pursued his studies there and was successful in Parts I and II of the Certified Accountants examinations and it appears he returned to Belize in June or July 1972 (some one year nine months later) when he was appointed an accountant in the Postmaster General's Office on the 25th July, 1972.

2 On the 1st August, 1972 the defendant wrote to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education expressing his dissatisfaction with the way his scholarship had been handled. The defendant claiming that he had been returned to Belize because of a serious and obvious mistake before the completion of his studies for the A.C.C.A. qualification, which is apparently divided into five parts. The defendant pointed out that other scholarship holders had been offered and allowed to complete their courses and he anxiously enquired whether he might be able to resume his scholarship in time for the school year which commenced in September, 1972 so that he could tackle Part III of the examination.

3 The defendant received an acknowledgment from the Ministry of Education on the 8th August, 1972 advising that his case was being taken up again with the British Council in London. On the 28th August, 1972 the defendant again wrote a reminder to the Ministry of Education on the subject; and on the 28th September, 1972 the Permanent Secretary, Establishment confirmed that approval had been received from the British Council in London for the defendant to continue studies for Parts III - V of the A.C.C.A. under the scholarship award which was first granted in 1970. A Gazette Notice was published on the 14th October, 1972 notifying that the defendant had left Belize on three years study leave, with effect the 23rd September, 1972.

4 In June or July, 1975 the defendant returned to Belize and was instructed to take up duty at the Ministry of Works where he had then been transferred. It is on record that the defendant assumed duty in that Ministry on the 7th July, 1975.

5 On the 14th December, 1977, the defendant tendered his resignation from the Public Service and it was later mutually agreed that his resignation should date from the 13th January, 1978.

6 On the 11th January, 1978, that is before the defendant left the public service, he received a letter from the Permanent Secretary, Establishment advising, without prejudice and as a concession, that he would be allowed to repay a proportionate part of the cost of his training over a period of two years, that sum was expressed as $2, 500.57.

7 On the 25th May, 1978, the Accountant General wrote to the defendant enquiring how he proposed to repay the amount in question.

8 On the 17th July, 1978, Messrs. Staine and Barrow wrote to the Permanent Secretary, Establishment on the subject of the bond entered into by the defendant notifying that they had advised the defendant that he was not obliged to pay the $2,500.57 claimed.

9 In the result, the plaintiff took out a writ on the 4th August, 1978 claiming $8,001.82 said to be owing to the Government of Belize from the defendant in terms of the bond entered into by him.

10 An appearance was entered on the 28th August, 1978 by Messrs. Staine and Barrow and a defence was filed on the 8th September, 1978. I will return to this document later.

11 At the commencement of the hearing, the Solicitor-General tendered an amended statement of claim which was put in without objection by Mr. Denys Barrow.

12 The first and only witness for the plaintiff was Mr. P.A. Bernard, Acting Chief Training Officer, Government of Belize who gave evidence concerning the history of the defendant's career in the public service and of the arrangements made for his study abroad; he also tendered some seventeen documents in evidence.

13 The defence did not call any witnesses.

14 After considering the submissions made by the Solicitor-General and Mr. Barrow, the case was adjourned for judgment on a date to be fixed.

15 The bond which the defendant entered into on the 9th September, 1970, and I am quite satisfied that it is a bond, recites, inter alia,

16 “AND WHEREAS the Government expenditure for passage money, subsistence and contingencies on the said scholarship is estimated to amount to the sum of $8,001.82

17 AND WHERE as (sic) as a condition of the award to me of the scholarship I undertook and agreed that if on completing successfully or on failing to complete the said course I do not immediately return to this country, and, if the Government of this country requires me so to do and in a post and at such salary as the Government considers commensurate with my qualifications:–

• (a) re-enter, and remain in the service of the Government in which I am now employed; or

• (b) enter and remain in the service of the Government; or

• (c) enter or re-enter, and remain in the service of some local government or quasi government body in this country as the Belize City Council, a District Town Board, the Electricity Board or the Marketing Board; or

• (d) remain and work in British Honduras for a period of four consecutive years from the date of my return to this country.

18 I will pay to Her Majesty the Queen and Her successors the sum of $8,001.82

19 NOW THE CONDITION of the above written obligations is that if I the said Roy L. Pandy shall well and faithfully observe and perform all the above mentioned conditions and stipulations on my part undertaken to be observed and performed for and during the period of four years as aforesaid then the said obligations shall be null and void and of no effect otherwise to be and remain of full force and virtue.”

20 I have quoted this portion of the bond, not only because it appears to me to be its very kernel, but also because I agree with the Solicitor-General when he says that all that has to be decided here is the interpretation of the document itself. There is, however, one extraneous matter that also falls to be considered here and that is Mr. Barrow's contention that it was impossible for the defendant to comply with the conditions generally since the defendant returned to Belize in July, 1972, but left again in the following September, and did...