Section 16: Procedure for recovery of immediate possession

(1) The landlord or any person claiming immediate possession shall file petition before the Rent Tribunal and such petition shall be accompained -by affidavits and documents upon which landlord or person entitled to seek immediate possession wants to rely. (2) The Rent Tribunal, upon filing of petition under sub-section (1), shall issue notice accompained by copies of petition, affidavits and documents, fixing a date not later than thirty days- from the date of service of notice requiring the tenant to submit reply accompained by affidavits and documents, if any, on which the tenant relies. The service of notice shall be effected through process server of the Tribunal or civil court as well as by registered post, acknowledgement due. Notice duly served by any of these methods shall be treated as sufficient service. (3) The. tenant may submit his reply, affidavits and documents after serving the copies of the same on the petitioner within a period not exceeding thirty days from the date of service of notice. The petitioner may file rejoinder, if any, after serving copy of the same on the tenant within a period of fifteen days from the date of service of reply. (4) The Rent Tribunal shall thereafter fix a date of hearing which shall not be later than ninety days from the date of service of notice on the tenant. The petition shall be disposed of within a period of one hundred and fifty days from the date of service ofnotice on the tenant. (5) The Rent Tribunal, during the course of such hearing, may hold such summary enquiry asit deems necessary to determine whether the petitioner is a landlord as categorized undersubsection (1) or sub-section (3) of section 10 and on being satisfied that the petitioner belongs to any of the categories of the landlord specified under sub-section (1) or sub- section (3) of section 10, shall dispose of the petition within a period of one hundred andtwenty days from the date of service of the notice on the tenant and shall issue a certificate for recovery of immediate possession from the tenant. (6) The certificate issued under sub-section (5) shall not be executable for a period of three months from the date of decision.