30. Rent Authority

The District Collector shall appoint an officer, not below the rank of Additional District Collector, to be the Rent Authority within his jurisdiction.

31. Negotiated settlement of disputes

(1) The Rent Authority and the Rent Tribunal shall, in all cases where the respondent enters or is permitted to enter defense against the application, at any time before a negotiated settlement of the dispute between the parties, in appropriate cases, refer them to the appropriate authority under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 (Act. no. 39 of 1987).

(2) Without prejudice to the provisions of sub-section (1), the Rent Authority and Rent Tribunal shall follow such procedure as it deems proper to promote a compromise expeditiously.

(3) Where there has been a settlement of the case by compromise, the Rent Authority and Rent Tribunal shall record the terms of the compromise and pass final order in those terms.

32.Rent Tribunal

The Rent Tribunal shall be presided over by the District Judge himself or by Additional District Judge nominated by the District Judge in each district.

33.Procedure to be followed in Rent Authority and Rent Tribunal

(1) Save as provided in this Act, nothing contained in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Act. no. 5 of 1908) shall apply to the Rent Authority and Rent Tribunal, which shall be guided by the principles of natural justice and shall have power to regulate their own procedure in the following manner, namely:-

(a) the landlord or the tenant may file an application or appeal before the Rent Authority or Rent Tribunal, as the case may be, accompanied by affidavit and documents, if any;

(b) the Rent Authority or Rent Tribunal, as the case may be, shall then issue notice to the opposite party, accompanied by copies of application or appeal, affidavit and documents;

(c) the opposite party shall file a reply accompanied by affidavit and documents, if any, after serving a copy of the same to the applicant;

(d) the applicant may file a rejoinder, if any, after serving the copy to the opposite party;

(e) the Rent Authority or Rent Tribunal, as the case may be, shall fix a date of hearing and may hold such summary inquiry as it deems necessary.

(2) The Rent Authority or Rent Tribunal, as the case may be, shall endeavor to dispose the case as expeditiously as possible, not exceeding a period of more than sixty days from the date of receipt of the application or appeal:

Provided that where any such application or appeal, as the case may be could not be disposed of within the said period of sixty days, the Rent Authority or Rent Tribunal, as the case may be, shall record its reasons in writing for not disposing of the application or appeal within that period.

(3) In every application or appeal, before the Rent Authority or Rent Tribunal, as the case may be, the evidence of a witness shall be given by affidavit:

Provided that the Rent Authority or Rent Tribunal, as the case may be, may where it appears to it that it is necessary in the interest of justice to call a witness for examination or cross-examination, order attendance of such witness to be present for examination or cross-examination.

(4) The provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Act. no. 5 of 1908) regarding service of summons shall be applicable mutatis mutandis for service of notice by the Rent Authority or Rent Tribunal. In addition to the said mode of service, the service of notice to landlord or tenant may also be effected through e-mail, WhatsApp, SMS or other recognized electronic mode.

(5) Every application or appeal shall be in such form as may be prescribed.

(6) The Rent Authority or Rent Tribunal, as the case may be, shall not allow more than three adjournments at the request of a party throughout the proceedings and in case of reasonable and sufficient cause to do so, it shall record the reasons for the same in writing and order the party requesting adjournment to pay a reasonable cost.

(7) Every application under clauses (a), (b), (e), (f) and (g) of sub-section (2) of section 21 or under section 22 shall be decided within ninety days from the date of filing of such application before the Rent Authority.

(8) The Rent Authority shall decide every application filed under clause (c) and (d) of sub-section (2) of section 21 within thirty days from the date of filing of such application.

34. Powers of Rent Authority and Rent Tribunal

(1) The Rent Authority and the Rent Tribunal shall, for discharging their functions under this Act, have the same powers as are vested in a Civil Court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Act. no. 5 of 1908) for the purposes of, -

(a) summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath;

(b) requiring the discovery and production of documents;

(c) issuing commission for examination of the witnesses or documents;

(d) issuing commission for local investigation;

(e) receiving evidence on affidavits;

(f) dismissing an application or appeal for default or deciding it ex-parte;

(g) setting aside any order of dismissal of any application or appeal for default or any other order passed by it ex-parte;

(h) any other matter, which may be prescribed.

(2) Any proceeding before the Rent Authority or Rent Tribunal shall be deemed to be a judicial proceeding within the meaning of sections 193 and 228 and for the purpose of section 196 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Act. no. 45 of 1860); and the Rent Authority and the Rent Tribunal shall be deemed to be a Civil Court for the purposes of section 195 and Chapter XXVI of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Act. no. 2 of 1974).

(3) For the purposes of holding any inquiry or discharging any duty under this Act, the Rent Authority may,-

(a) after giving not less than twenty-four hours' notice in writing, enter and inspect or authorize any officer subordinate to it, to enter and inspect any premises at any time between sunrise and sunset;

(b) by a written order, require any person to produce for its inspection-such books or documents relevant to the inquiry, at such time and at such place as may be specified in the order.

(4) The Rent Authority may, if it thinks fit, appoint one or more persons having special knowledge of the matter under consideration as an assessor or valuer to advise it in the proceeding before it.

(5) Any clerical or arithmetical mistake in any order passed by the Rent Authority or any other error arising out of any accidental omission may, at any time, be corrected by the Rent Authority on an application received by it in this behalf from any of the parties or otherwise.

(6) The Rent Authority may exercise the powers of a Judicial Magistrate of the First Class for the recovery of the fine under the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Act. no. 2 of 1974) and the Rent Authority shall be deemed to be a Magistrate under the said Code for the purposes of such recovery.

(7) An order made by a Rent Authority or an order passed in appeal under this Chapter shall be executable by the Rent Authority as a decree of a Civil Court and for this purpose, the Rent Authority shall have the powers of a Civil Court.

(8) The Rent Authority may set aside or recall any order passed ex-parte if the aggrieved party files an application and satisfies it that the notice was not duly served or that he was prevented by any sufficient cause from appearing when the case was taken up for hearing.

(9) Save as otherwise expressly provided in this Act, every order made by the Rent Authority shall, subject to decision in appeal, be final and shall not be called in question in any original suit, application or execution proceedings.

35. Appeal to Rent Tribunal

(1)Any person aggrieved by an order passed by the Rent Authority may prefer an appeal along with a certified copy of such order to the Rent Tribunal within the local limits of which the premises is situated, within a period of thirty days from the date of that order:

Provided that no appeal shall lie unless the appellant pre-deposits fifty percent of the entire payable amount under the impugned order of the Rent Authority.

(2) Upon filing an appeal under sub-section (1), the Rent Tribunal shall serve notice, along with a copy of memorandum of appeal to the respondent and fix a hearing not later than thirty days from the date of service of notice of appeal on the respondent and the appeal shall be disposed of within a period of sixty days from such date of service.

(3) Where the Rent Tribunal considers it necessary in the interest of arriving at a just and proper decision, it may allow filing of documents at any stage of the proceedings in appeal: 

Provided that no such document shall be allowed more than once during the hearing.

(4) The Rent Tribunal may, in its discretion, pass such interlocutory order during the pendency of the appeal, as it may deem fit.

(5) While deciding the appeal, the Rent Tribunal may, after recording reasons therefor, confirm, set aside or modify the order passed by a Rent Authority.

36. Execution of order

(1) The Rent Authority shail, on an application filed by any party, execute an order of a Rent Tribunal or any other order made under this Act, in such manner as may be prescribed, by-

(a) delivering possession of the premises to the person in whose favour the decision has been made; or

(b) attaching one or more bank accounts of the opposite party for the purpose of recovering the amount specified in such order; or

(c) appointing any advocate or any other competent person including officers of the Rent Authority or local administration or local body for the execution of such order; or

(d) attachment of salary and allowance of the opposite party; or

(e) attachment and sale of the movable or immovable property of the opposite party.

(2) The Rent Authority may take help from the local police for execution of the final orders:

Provided that no applicant shall obtain help of the police unless he pays such costs as may be decided by the Rent Authority.

(3) The Rent Authority shall conduct the execution proceedings, in relation to its order or an order of a Rent Tribunal or any other order passed under this Act, in a summary manner and dispose of the application for execution made under this section within a period of thirty days from the date of service of notice on the opposite party.