Admission or rejection of claims

(1) After examining the claims with reference to the priorities specified in Schedule III, the Commissioner shall fix a certain date on or before which every claimant shall file the proof of his claim. (2) Not less than fourteen days notice of the date so fixed shall be given by an advertisement in one issue of a daily newspaper in the English language having wide circulation in the country and one issue of a daily news paper in the Kannada language having wide circulation in the State 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 specified 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 claimant a reasonable opportunity of being heard, determine the nature and extent of such claims and by order in writing admit or reject the claim in whole or in part and in determining the nature and extent of the claims of the legal representatives or heirs or transferees, the Commissioner shall take into consideration, the effect of the final order passed in the writ petitions pending against the orders of the Competent Authority under the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976, and the rights of the State Government thereunder. The Commissioner shall also decide any dispute as to the person or persons who are entitled to the amount and any dispute as to who are the legal representatives of any deceased claimant. (5) The Commissioner shall have the power to regulate his own procedure in all matters arising out of the discharge of his functions, and shall, for the purpose of making an investigation under this Act, have the same powers as are vested in a Civil Court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 while trying a suit, in respect of the following matters, namely:- (a) the summoning and enforcing the attendance of any witness and examining him on oath; (b) the discovery and production of any document or other material object used as evidence; (c) the receiving of evidence on affidavit; (d) the issuing of any commission 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 Penal Code 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. (7) A claimant, who is aggrieved by the decision of the Commissioner, may prefer an appeal against the decision to the District Court, within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the Palace is situated.