9Appeals

(1) An appeal shall lie from every order of the estate officer made in respect of any public premises under ¹[section 5 or section 5B] ² [or section 5C] or section 7 to an appellate officer who shall be the district judge of the district in which the public premises are situate or such other judicial officer in that district of not less than ten years standing as the district judge may designate in this behalf.

(2) An appeal under sub-section (1) shall be preferred,--

(a) in the case of an appeal from an order under section 5, ³ [within twelve days] from the date of publication of the order under sub-section (1) of that section; ⁴***

(b) in the case of an appeal from an order ⁵[under section 5B or section 7, within twelve days] from the date on which the order is communicated to the appellant; ⁶[and]

²[(c) in the case of an appeal from an order under section 5C, within twelve days from the date of such order:]

⁷[Provided that the appellate officer may entertain the appeal in exceptional cases after the expiry of thesaid period,if he is satisfied for reasons to be recorded in writing that there was compelling reasons which prevented the person from filing the appeal in time.]

(3) Where an appeal is preferred from an order of the estate officer, the appellate officer may stay the enforcement of that order for such period and on such conditions as he deems fit:

⁸[Provided that where the construction or erection of any building or other structure or fixture or execution of any other work was not completed on the day on which an order was made under section 5B for the demolition or removal of such building or other structure or fixture, the appellate officer shall not make any order for the stay of enforcement of such order, unless such security, as may be sufficient in the opinion of the appellate officer, has been given by the appellant for not proceeding with such construction, erection or work pending the disposal of the appeal.]

⁹[(4) Every appeal under this section shall be disposed of by the appellate officer as expeditiously as possible and every endeavour shall be made to dispose of the appeal finally within one month from the date of filing the appeal, after providing the parties an opportunity of being heard.]

(5) The costs of any appeal under this section shall be in the discretion of the appellate officer.

(6) For the purposes of this section, a presidency-town shall be deemed to be a district and the chief judge or the principal judge of the city civil court therein shall be deemed to be the district judge of the district.