Prominent university loses lawsuit against ex-professor

The Second High Civil Court yesterday rejected a lawsuit filed by a prominent university in the Kingdom against one of its former professors, demanding him to repay more than BD12,000 spent on his Master’s and doctoral degrees abroad. According to the professor’s lawyer, Dr Salim Al Ghumaidh, the university said in its complaint that it had agreed with the professor to bear the expenses of his education abroad provided he work with the university for a particular period.

Dr Al Ghumaidh explained that three scholarship sponsorship agreements were signed between both parties in the years 1999, 2003 and 2004 respectively, with the condition that the professor should repay the study expenses to the university if he discontinues the contract. The lawyer said that his client, after he obtained the Master’s degree in 1999, had returned to teach at the university in the year 2001, but the university offered to sponsor his PhD in the year 2003, before he could complete double the period he spent during his sponsorship, as agreed with the university.

The same agreement was renewed in the year 2004, as the professor decided to change the university he was studying in. The details of the case showed that the university had demanded the professor to repay his wages for 14 years, which is double the period (seven years) it alleged he spent studying both Master’s and PhD degrees. The lawyer argued that this is contrary to the agreements signed between both parties, stating that the agreements stipulated that the professor should pay the fees of his scholarship and not his monthly wages.

Dr Al Ghumaidh told the judges that the university’s claims are against the provisions of the agreement signed with the professor, who, he said, had worked for 32 months after being awarded the PhD. He quoted that the provisions of Article 29/4 of the Civil Service Bureau Law, stipulates that the government isn’t entitled of demanding the repayment of amounts disbursed to an employee after five years of the date of disbursement. The court rejected the lawsuit and ordered the university to bear the fees of the court and the defendant’s lawyer.