Section 38. Appeal to the Tribunal

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.