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Legal consultation by Abdelaal A Khalil Thursday, 19 May 2011 04:17
A resident bought a telephone line from a telecom company under his identity card for a trusted friend and he was paying the bill regularly, but recently he stopped paying the bill and the company disconnected the line and after that the company asked him to pay the bills noting that the billing data and the people from his side bear witness that this person was using the line since it was bought until it was disconnected. What should he do?
There is no doubt that the right to use the landline phone or mobile shall be obtained under a written contract between the client and telecom company. The client shall be responsible in front of the company for the payment of monthly bills against the benefit from the service and according to this the person who buys a telephone line in his name is responsible for the payment against the use of the line regardless of the fact. Therefore, the questioner cannot argue in front of telecom company that the line was used by another person and he has to pay the value of arrears. He can ask his above-mentioned friend the value of arrears and he can prove his claims that his friend was using the line with the testimony of witnesses and other evidences that support and prove the validity of your demand. This matter will remain between the questioner and his friend and it has nothing to do with the telecom company. Therefore, you he is responsible and the owner of the line in the eyes of the company and you cannot argue that your friend is the actual user of the line. Therefore, the overdue bills must be paid and you can ask your friend by informing the police or filing a case in the court if the amicable ways didn’t work or you can get from the above-mentioned friend a cheque for the amount of arrears and if he did not pay you can sue him and demand the value of that cheque.
A person rented a car from a car rental office in Doha and he was asked to give a security cheque. After the expiry of the rental period, the renter returned the car to the office, but he did not find the person who received the cheque from him. He tried to contact him more than once to get back the cheque, but his attempts failed noting that the cheque was blank and without a signature. Now he wants to know how can he recover the cheque?
The Penal Code No.11/2004 points out that the person who gave a cheque without a sufficient balance and withdrawable balance and he ordered the drawee bank not to cash the cheque or he deliberately wrote and signed the cheque in a way that prevents it from being cashed in bad faith, will be punished by an imprisonment for a period of not less than three months and not exceeding three years and a fine of not less than 3,000 (three thousand) Qatari riyals and not more than 10,000 (ten thousand) Qatari riyals or either of them.
Therefore, we recommend the questioner to write a report against the car rental office requesting the recovery of the cheque, prove that the cheque was blank and without a signature and notify the bank by any way of communication to stop the cheque from being cashed as a precaution.
This communication shall protect the owner of the cheque and serve as a significant legal basis if the cheque came into the picture in the future or if the holder of the cheque misused it, (God forbid) noting that the cheque without the signature of the drawer cannot be cashed, but we advise to take this action because the holder of the cheque can fill up the same and forge the signature of the owner of the cheque.
An employee works in a company for three years under employment contract drawing a basic salary of QR 2000 per month which was increased gradually until it became QR3000. His employment contract has not been renewed knowing that the company provides housing, transportation and health insurance. Now, this employee is willing to submit his resignation and return to his homeland. Therefore, he wants to know whether his end of service gratuity shall be calculated on the basis of basic salary after the amendment or the basic salary mentioned in the contract?
The Labour Law No. 14/2004 regarding the end of service benefits points out that the employer must pay the end of the service gratuity of the worker who spent one year or more. This remuneration shall be determined by an agreement between the parties provided that it must not be less than three weeks’ salary of each year of service and the basic salary of the worker shall be considered as basis to calculate the end of services gratuity. Pursuant to that the end of service gratuity shall be calculated in accordance with the last basic salary which is “QR 3000 SR” and not the old salary mentioned in the contract.