(1) The Rent Authority and the Rent Tribunal shall, for discharging their functions under this Act, have the same powers as are vested in a Civil Court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Act. no. 5 of 1908) for the purposes of, -
(a) summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath;
(b) requiring the discovery and production of documents;
(c) issuing commission for examination of the witnesses or documents;
(d) issuing commission for local investigation;
(e) receiving evidence on affidavits;
(f) dismissing an application or appeal for default or deciding it ex-parte;
(g) setting aside any order of dismissal of any application or appeal for default or any other order passed by it ex-parte;
(h) any other matter, which may be prescribed.
(2) Any proceeding before the Rent Authority or Rent Tribunal shall be deemed to be a judicial proceeding within the meaning of sections 193 and 228 and for the purpose of section 196 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Act. no. 45 of 1860); and the Rent Authority and the Rent Tribunal shall be deemed to be a Civil Court for the purposes of section 195 and Chapter XXVI of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Act. no. 2 of 1974).
(3) For the purposes of holding any inquiry or discharging any duty under this Act, the Rent Authority may,-
(a) after giving not less than twenty-four hours’ notice in writing, enter and inspect or authorize any officer subordinate to it, to enter and inspect any premises at any time between sunrise and sunset;
(b) by a written order, require any person to produce for its inspection such books or documents relevant to the inquiry, at such time and at such place as may be specified in the order.
(4) The Rent Authority may, if it thinks fit, appoint one or more persons having special knowledge of the matter under consideration as an assessor or valuer to advise it in the proceeding before it.
(5) Any clerical or arithmetical mistake in any order passed by the Rent Authority or any other error arising out of any accidental omission may, at any time, be corrected by the Rent Authority on an application received by it in this behalf from any of the parties or otherwise.
(6) The Rent Authority may exercise the powers of a Judicial Magistrate of the First Class for the recovery of the fine under the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Act. no. 2 of 1974) and the Rent Authority shall be deemed to be a Magistrate under the said Code for the purposes of such recovery.
(7) An order made by a Rent Authority or an order passed in appeal under this Chapter shall be executable by the Rent Authority as a decree of a Civil Court and for this purpose, the Rent Authority shall have the powers of a Civil Court.
(8) The Rent Authority may set aside or recall any order passed ex-parte if the aggrieved party files an application and satisfies it that the notice was not duly served or that he was prevented by any sufficient cause from appearing when the case was taken up for hearing.
(9) Save as otherwise expressly provided in this Act, every order made by the Rent Authority shall, subject to decision in appeal, be final and shall not be called in question in any original suit, application or execution proceedings.