(1) Any person who, does not get notified service within the stipulated time limit specified under section 4 or is aggrieved by a decision of the Designated Public Servant, may, within 30 days from the expiry of the stipulated period or from the date of receipt of such decision, as the case may be, prefer an appeal to the Appellate Authority notified under sub-section (3) of section 4:
Provided that the Appellate Authority may admit the appeal after the expiry of 30 days if he or she is satisfied that the Appellant was prevented by sufficient cause from filing the appeal in time.
(2) The Appellate Authority may order the Designated Public Servant to provide the notified service within the stipulated time limit as specified in the notification under section 4 for that service or may reject the appeal and in case of rejection of the appeal, the Appellate Authority shall record the reasons in writing for rejection of the appeal in his order:
Provided that, before deciding the appeal, the Appellate Authority shall give reasonable opportunity of being heard to the Appellant as well as the Designated Public Servant.
(3) An appeal under sub-section (1) shall be disposed of within 30 days from the date of filing of the appeal or within such extended period not exceeding a total of forty-five days from the date of filing thereof, for reasons to be recorded in writing, as the case may be.
(4) The Applicant aggrieved by any order of the Appellate Authority, may make a Second Appeal within sixty days from the date of receipt of the order of the Appellate Authority in the appeal before the Commission.
1. Subs. by Assam Act No. VII of 2019.
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(5) The Commission shall dispose of the Second Appeal by following such procedure as may be prescribed:
Provided that the Commission may entertain the Second Appeal after the expiry of said sixty days, but in no case beyond ninety days from the date of receipt of the order of the Appellate Authority by the Appellant, if it is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufficient cause from filing the appeal in time.
(6) In any appeal proceeding, the onus to prove that a denial of a service was justified shall be on the Designated Public Servant, who denied the service.
(7) The decision of the Commission in a Second Appeal shall be binding on the Appellant and the Designated Public Servant.
(8) The Appellate Authority and the Commission while deciding an appeal or a Second Appeal, as the case may be, under this section, have the same power as vested in a Civil Court while trying a suit under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, in respect of any of the matters, namely :-
(a) requiring the production and inspection of documents;
(b) issuing summons for hearing to the Designated Public servant;
(c) any other matter as may be prescribed.]
Central Act V of 1908 1 [Assam State Commission for Right to Public Services