Fatwa No : 84266
Adjusting/retaining an amount from another account of the company in place of the company’s payable liability

Adjusting/retaining an amount from another account of the company in place of the company’s payable liability

What do the respected Muftis say regarding this issue that I had worked in a private institution (for about ten years). I resigned from this institution. For the settlement of my account for that year, the institution gave me about eight months’ time, which was completely inappropriate. Still, I agreed to wait for eight months. When I left the institution, I took with me an amount of the institution which was in my possession (74,000 rupees), with the intention that if the institution created any discrepancy in my settlement, then I would deduct it from them. The institution did not know about this amount. Out of this amount, 20,000 rupees belonged to the institution, while the remaining 54,000 rupees were detailed as follows: When I was working in that institution, there was a government body called Social Security to which the institution contributed funds worth lakhs of rupees every month, in return for which that body provided facilities to the employees there, such as medical treatment, school books for children, school bags, shoes, and dowry funds for women, etc. On one occasion, dowry forms were distributed by that body, and a woman declared herself unmarried to Social Security, meaning she wrote a lie and obtained 54,000 rupees from the institution. When we found out that this money had been taken wrongly by that woman, we took that money from her and kept it with us, and for a long time that amount remained with me. Thus, 54,000 rupees of that, and 20,000 rupees of the institution, which together made 74,000 rupees, I took with me. This was the detail of those 74,000 rupees. On the other hand, my eight months’ waiting period passed, but the institution did not give me my settlement. After that I kept applying for a long time. Once, I even directly requested the owner of the institution by phone, but I did not receive my settlement. It should be remembered that the institution never used to delay like this before. For some time, due to heavy interest payments to the bank and losses, there were delays in the employees’ settlements. Anyway, one day, upon complaining to an auditor, I received my settlement, which was about 350,000 rupees. Then I thought that the 74,000 rupees which I had taken earlier from the institution, I should now return. On that day I made a cheque of 74,000 rupees and delivered it to the owner of the institution. He, out of anger, tore up the cheque and said: “Give it to someone else; I do not want this money.”
By his saying this, did I become the owner of this money? Because in that 74,000, 20,000 belonged to the institution, and the rest was money that the woman had wrongfully obtained from Social Security. After that, when I saw that the owner of the institution was not taking this money, I gave this money to a boy I knew, who like me had also worked in the institution and left, and was waiting for his settlement, which was about 80,000 rupees. Did I do the right thing? And for that boy, is this money lawful? When the owner of the institution came to know of this, he said: “No, the institution itself will give that boy his money.” But now it has been about three months since then, and until now the institution has not given that boy his money. Now what should I do? Should I take this money back from the boy and return it to the institution? Or should I return it to the Social Security department? Or should I keep it myself? Is this amount obligatory upon me to return?

الجوابُ حامِدا ًو مُصلیِّا ً

Of the amounts mentioned in the question, the sum of fifty-four thousand rupees (54,000), which was obtained from Social Security through false information, must be deposited back into the institution’s fund with a proper receipt. As for the remaining twenty thousand rupees that the questioner gave to the mentioned employee, that amount was in fact the rightful due of the company. However, if the employee counts it as part of his payable settlement and refrains from claiming it again from the company, then it is hoped that, in the sight of Allah, he will be absolved of responsibility.

مأخَذُ الفَتوی

ففي حاشية ابن عابدين (رد المحتار): ومن مسائل المقاصة ما لو كان للمودع على صاحب الوديعة دين من جنسها لم تصر قصاصا به إلا إذا اتفقا عليه وكانت في يده أو رجع إلى أهله فأخذها والمغصوب كالوديعة، وكذلك لا تقع المقاصة ما لم يتقاصا لو كان الدينان من جنسين أو متفاوتين في الوصف، أو مؤجلين أو أحدهما حالا والآخر مؤجلا أو أحدها غلة والآخر صحيحا كما في الذخيرة. وإذا اختلف الجنس وتقاصا كما لو كان له عليه مائة درهم وللمديون مائة دينار عليه فإذا تقاصا تصير الدراهم قصاصا بمائة من قيمة الدنانير ويبقى لصاحب الدنانير على صاحب الدراهم ما بقي منها ظهيرية ودين النفقة للزوجة لا يقع قصاصا بدين للزوج عليها إلا بالتراضي، بخلاف سائر الديون؛ لأن دين النفقة أدنى، فروق الكرابيسي اهـ ملخصا اھ (5/ 266)۔