(1) After examining the claim with reference to the priority set out in the Second Schedule, the Commissioner shall fix a certain date on or before which every claimant shall file the proof of his claim or be excluded from the benefit of the disbursement made by the Commissioner.
(2) Not less than fourteen days’ notice of the date so fixed shall be given by advertisement in one issue of a daily newspaper in the English Language and one issue of a daily newspaper in the regional language, as the Commissioner may consider suitable, and every such notice shall call upon the claimant to file the proof of his claim with the Commissioner within the time specified in the advertisement.
(3) Every claimant who fails to file the proof of his claim within the time specifid by the Commissioner shall be excluded from the disbursement made by the Commissioner.
(4) The Commissioner shall, after such investigation as may, in his opinion, be necessary and after giving the owner of the undertaking an opportunity of refuting the claim and after giving the claimant a reasonable opportunity of being heard, in writing, admit or reject the claim in whole or in part.
(5) The Commissioner shall have the power to regulate his own procedure in all matters arising out of the discharge or his functions, including the place or places at which, he will hold his sittings and shall, for the purpose of making any investigation under this Act, have the same powers as are vested in a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Central Act 5 of 1908), while 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) discovery and production of any document or other material object producible as evidence;
(c) reception of evidence on affidavits;
(d) issue of commissions for the examination of witnesses.
(6) Any investigation before the Commissioner shall be deemed to be a judicial proceeding within the meaning of sections 193 and 228 of the Indian Penal Code (Central Act 45 of 1860); and the Commissioner shall be deemed to be a civil court for the purposes of section 195 and Chapter XXVI of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Central Act 2 of 1974).
(7) Any person aggrieved by, or who is dissatisfied with the decision of the Commissioner may, within thirty days from the date of receipt of the order leading to such decision, prefer an appeal against the decision to the principal civil court of original jurisdiction within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the undertaking is situated.