Srinagar, Jan 25: The court in Srinagar on Wednesday directed the owner of a job consultancy firm to pay an amount of Rs 2,045,000 along with the interest to the job aspirants for duping them on the pretext of providing jobs in Gulf countries.
The court of 3rd Additional District Judge Srinagar, Sudhir Kumar Khajuria while deciding two suits in favor of plaintiffs directed Adil Yousuf Sheikh of Nowpora Khanyar, who claims to be the owner of a job consultancy firm, Gulf HR Solutions situated at Hyderpora to pay an amount of Rs 2,045,000 alongwith interest @ 6% per annum from the date of institution of the suit till its realization to five plaintiffs.
The court passed the direction in two separate suits filed by five job aspirants through counsels, Shublee Ashraf Khan and Mir Javid under order XXXVII of the Code of Civil Procedure (CCP) seeking recovery of Rs.11.00 lac for two aspirants and Rs Rs.09.45 lac for three other aspirants.
The plea stated that the defendant ( Adil Sheikh) is running a job consultancy under the name of Gulf HR Solutions at Hyderpora, Srinagar and he published an advertisement in the local newspapers for job placement in Multinational companies in various countries and invited people for various job profiles against handsome salaries.
The case of the plaintiffs is that they along with some other persons, who are highly educated and unemployed, approached the consultancy with respect to said advertisement of jobs in Gulf countries
It was stated that the defendant was able to persuade and lure the plaintiffs of a highly excited job offer in Gulf Countries and for the purpose of visa as well as Consultancy Fee, he demanded an amount of Rs.60,000 from each applicant.
The counsels submitted that the plaintiffs among others apart from submitting certificates, passport and other requisite documents also deposited a total of Rs.5.50 lacs.
After completing all the formalities, the counsels submitted, the plaintiffs were left high and dry by the defendant, as neither the visas nor the appointment letters arrived and when they enquired about the same, they were subject to waiting for some more time.
It was stated that the plaintiffs were handed over appointment letters as well as visas, which turned out to be fake once they were enquired by the plaintiffs on their own.
However, when the plaintiffs contacted the defendant regarding the said fraud, the plea stated, the defendant pleaded guilty and sought pardon and promised to return the whole amount paid by the plaintiffs along with a penalty of the same amount in the event of failure of providing jobs to the plaintiffs.
It mentioned that despite a lapse of stipulated time, the defendant failed to provide jobs to the plaintiffs and upon failure of providing jobs, the defendant issued 02 cheques, one on September 05, 2019 and another on September 15, 2019 worth Rs.2.50 lacs and Rs.3.00 lacs respectively
“The said cheques, although issued in the name of plaintiffs, included the amount due to other candidates who were told by the defendant to collect their amount from the plaintiffs once the cheques are en-cashed,”
To the dismay of the candidates, the plea stated, when the cheques were presented before the banker for encashment, the same were dishonored by the banker “as such the defendant played fraud to usurp the hard-earned money of the plaintiffs and since then, the defendant has been absconding.”
Perusing the material on record, the court while finding the defendant guilty noted that despite service of the summon either in person or through his counsel or agent to defend the suit in specified period of ten days according to provisions as mentioned in order 37 Rule 2(3) CPC, “as such the allegation in the plaint shall be deemed to be admitted having no defence to the suit”
Allowing the pleas, the court directed that the plaintiffs shall be entitled to a decree for the suit money not exceeding the sum mentioned in the summon together with the interest as prayed for.
In 2019, police in Central Kashmir’s Budgam district had arrested Sheikh for duping people on the pretext of providing jobs.
The police had lodged two FIR’s against the imposter, Sheikh after police received several complaints against Gulf HR Solutions that the owner duped people by seeking their documents, passports and a huge amount of money in lieu of providing jobs in foreign countries, which turned out to be false.
