35. Appointment of Controllers and Additional Controllers.—(1) The Central Government may, by
notification in the Official Gazette, appoint as many Controllers as it thinks fit, and define the local limits
within which, or the hotels and lodging houses in respect of which, each Controller shall exercise the powers
conferred, and perform the duties imposed, on Controllers by or under this Act.
(2) The Central Government may also, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint as many
additional Controllers as it thinks fit and an additional Controller shall perform such of the functions of the
Controller as may, subject to the control of the Central Government, be assigned to him in writing by the
Controller and in the discharge of these functions, an additional Controller shall have and shall exercise the
same powers and discharge the same duties as the Controller.
(3) A person shall not be qualified for appointment as a Controller or an additional Controller, unless
he has for at least five years held a judicial office in India or has for at least seven years been practising as
an advocate or a pleader in India.
36. Powers of Controller.—(1) The Controller may—
(a) transfer any proceeding pending before him for disposal to any additional Controller, or
(b) withdraw any proceeding pending before any additional Controller and dispose it of himself or
transfer the proceeding for disposal to any other additional Controller.
(2) The Controller shall have the same powers as are tested in a civil court under the Code of Civil
Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), when trying a suit, in respect of the following matters, namely:—
(a) summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath;
(b) requiring the discovery and production of documents;
(c) issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses;
(d) any other matter which may be prescribed;
and any proceeding before the Controller shall be deemed to be a judicial proceeding within the meaning
of section 193 and section 228 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860), and the Controller shall be deemed
to be a civil court within the meaning of Section 480 and Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure,
1898 (5 of 1898).
(3) For the purposes of holding any inquiry or discharging any duty under this Act, the Controller
may,—
(a) after giving not less than twenty-four hours’ notice in writing, enter and inspect or authorise
any officer subordinate to him to enter and inspect any premises at any time between sunrise and sunset;
or
(b) by written order, require any person to produce for his inspection all such accounts, books or
other documents relevant to the inquiry at such time and at such place as may be specified in the order.
(4) The Controller may, if he thinks fit, appoint one or more persons having special knowledge of the
matter under consideration as an assessor or assessors to advise him in the proceeding before him.
37. Procedure to be followed by Controller.—(1) No order which prejudicially affects any person
shall be made by the Controller under this Act without giving him a reasonable opportunity of showing
cause against the order proposed to be made and until his objections, if any, and any evidence he may
produce in support of the same have been considered by the Controller.
(2) Subject to any rules that may be made under this Act, the Controller shall, while holding an inquiry
in any proceeding before him, follow as far as may be the practice and procedure of a Court of Small
Causes, including the recording of evidence.
23
(3) In all proceedings before him, the Controller shall consider the question of costs and award such
costs to or against any party as the Controller considers reasonable.
38. Appeal to the Tribunal.—(1) An appeal shall lie from every order of the Controller made under
this Act 1
[only on questions of law] to the Rent Control Tribunal hereinafter referred to as the Tribunal)
consisting of one person only to be appointed by the Central Government by notification in the Official
Gazette:
1
[Provided that no appeal shall lie from an order of the Controller made under section 21.]
(2) An appeal under sub-section (1) shall be preferred within thirty days from the date of the order made
by the Controller:
Provided that the Tribunal may entertain the appeal after the expiry of the said period of thirty days, if
it is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufficient cause from filing the appeal in time.
(3) The Tribunal shall have all the power vested in a court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5
of 1908), when hearing an appeal.
(4) Without prejudice to the provisions of sub-section (3), the Tribunal may, on an application made to
it or otherwise, by order transfer any proceeding pending before any Controller or additional Controller to
another Controller or additional Controller and the Controller or additional Controller to whom the
proceeding is so transferred may, subject to any special directions in the order of transfer, dispose of the
proceeding.
(5) A person shall not be qualified for appointment to the Tribunal, unless he is, or has been, a district
judge or has for at least ten years held a judicial office in India.
2
[38A. Additional Rent Control Tribunals.—(1) For the expeditious disposal of appeals and
applications under section 38, the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette,
constitute as many Additional Rent Control Tribunals as it deems fit and appoint to each such Additional
Rent Control Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as the Additional Tribunal) one person qualified for
appointment to the Tribunal in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (5) of that section.
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 38, the Tribunal may, by order in writing,—
(a) specify the appeals or classes of appeals under sub-section (1) of that section which may be
preferred to and disposed of by each Additional Tribunal and the classes of cases in which each
Additional Tribunal may exercise the powers of the Tribunal under sub-section (4) of that section;
(b) transfer any appeal or proceeding pending before it for disposal to any Additional Tribunal; or
(c) withdraw any appeal or proceeding pending before any Additional Tribunal and dispose it of
itself or transfer the appeal or proceeding for disposal to any other Additional Tribunal.
(3) The provisions of sub-sections (2) and (3) of section 38 shall apply in relation to an Additional
Tribunal as they apply in relation to the Tribunal.
38B. Power of High Court to transfer appeals, etc.—The High Court may also, on an application
made to it or otherwise, by order, transfer—
(a) any appeal or proceeding pending before the Tribunal to any Additional Tribunal; or
(b) any appeal or proceeding pending before any Additional Tribunal to the Tribunal or in any other
Additional Tribunal.]
39. [Second appeal.]—Omitted by The Delhi Rent Control (Amendment) Act, 1988 (57 of 1988), s. 17
(w.e.f. 1-12-1988)
1. Ins. by Act 57 of 1988, s. 16 (w.e.f. 1-12-1988).
2. Ins. by s. 2, Act 37 of 1984.
24
40. Amendment of orders.—Clerical or arithmetical mistakes in any order passed by a Controller or
1
[the Tribunal or an Additional Tribunal] or errors arising therein from any accidental slip or omission may,
at any time, be corrected by the Controller or 1
[the Tribunal on an Additional Tribunal] on an application
received in this behalf from any of the parties or otherwise.
41. Controller to exercise powers of a magistrate for recovery of fine.—Any fine imposed by a
Controller under this Act shall be paid by the person fined within such time as may be allowed by the
Controller and the Controller may, for good and sufficient reason, extend the time, and in default of such
payment, the amount shall be recoverable as a fine under the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure,
1898, (5 of 1898) and the Controller shall be deemed to be a magistrate under the said Code for the purposes
of such recovery.
42. Controller to exercise powers of civil court for execution of other orders.—Save as otherwise
provided in section 41, an order made by the Controller or an order passed on appeal under this Act shall
be executable by the Controller as a decree of a civil court and for this purpose, the Controller shall have
all the powers of a civil court.
43. Finality of order.—Save as otherwise expressly provided in this Act, every order made by the
Controller or an order passed on appeal under this Act shall be final and shall not be called in question in
any original suit, application or execution proceeding.