Appeals.

(1) An appeal shall lie from every order of the Competent Authority made in respect of any Authority premises under section 66 or section 67 to an appellate officer whom the State Government may, by a notification in the Official Gazette, appoint. The appellate officer shall be a person not below the rank of a Deputy Secretary to Government having judicial experience or experience in the Legal Department of the State or a person who has for at least ten years held any judicial office, who shall be specified for the purpose by the State Government in such notification. (2) The State Government may appoint one or more appellate officers for the whole or that part of the State in which this Act is in force, or for such area therein as may be specified in the notification. (3) The period within which an appeal under sub-section (1) may be preferred shall— (a) in the case of an appeal from an order under section 66 be not later than 30 days from the date of the service of the notice relating to the order under sub-section (1) of that section, and (b) in the case of an appeal from an order under section 67 be not later than 30 days from the date of the service of the notice relating to the order under sub-section (1) or (2) of that section, as the case may be : Provided that, the appellate officer may entertain the appeal after the expiry of the said period of 30 days, if he is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufficient cause from filling the appeal in time. (4) Where an appeal is preferred from an order of the Competent Authority, the appellate officer may stay the enforcement of that order on payment of deposit of Rs. 200 for such period and on such conditions as he deems fit. (5) Every appeal under this section shall be disposed of by the appellate officer as expeditiously as possible. (6) The appellate officer may make regulations for regulating the practice and procedure, including the award of costs, the levy of any process fee, filing fee, or copying or translation fees including provision for recovery thereof in the form of court-fee stamps, the right of appearance before him, the place or places of his sitting, the disposal of any proceedings before him notwithstanding that in the course thereof there has been a change in the appellate officer and generally for the effective exercise of his powers and discharge of his functions under this Act. (7) The regulations made under this section shall be published in the Official Gazette.