The Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957

347. Restrictions on user of buildings.-

No person shall, without the written permission of the Commissioner, or otherwise than in conformity with the conditions, if any, of such permission-

(a) use or permit to be used for human habitation any part of a building not originally erected or authorised to be used for that purpose or not used for that purpose before any alteration has been made therein by any work executed in accordance with the provisions of this Act and of the bye-laws made thereunder;

(b) change or allow the change of the use of any land or building;

(c) convert or allow the conversion of one kind of tenement into another kind.

¹[347A. Appellate Tribunal.-

(1) The Central Government shall, by notification in the Official Gazette, constitute one or more Appellate Tribunals with headquarters at Delhi, for deciding appeals preferred under section 343 or section 347B.

(2) An Appellate Tribunal shall consist of one person to be appointed by the Central Government on such terms and conditions of service as may be prescribed by rules.

(3) A person shall not be qualified for appointment as the presiding officer of an Appellate Tribunal unless he is, or has been, a district judge or an additional district judge or has, for at least ten years, held a judicial office in India.

(4) The Central Government may, if it so thinks fit, appoint one or more persons having special knowledge of, or experience in, the matters involved in such appeals, to act as assessors to advise the Appellate Tribunal in the proceedings before it, but no advice of the assessors shall be binding on the Appellate Tribunal.

(5) The Central Government shall, by notification in the Official Gazette, define the territorial limits within which an Appellate Tribunal shall exercise its jurisdiction, and where different Appellate Tribunals have jurisdiction over the same territorial limits, the Central Government shall also provide for the distribution and allocation of work to be performed by such Tribunals.

(6) For the purpose of enabling it to discharge its functions under this Act, every Appellate Tribunal shall have a Registrar and such other staff on such terms and conditions of service as may be prescribed by rules:

Provided that the Registrar and staff may be employed jointly for all or any number of such Tribunals in accordance with the rules.

1. Ins. by Act 42 of 1984, s. 7 (w.e.f. 10-2-1986).

347B. Appeals against certain orders or notices issued under the Act.-

(1) Any person aggrieved by any of the following orders made or notices issued under this Act, may prefer an appeal against such order or notice to the Appellate Tribunal, namely:-

(a) an order according or disallowing sanction to a lay-out plan under section 313;

(b) an order directing the alteration or demolition of any street under section 314;

(c) a notice under sub-section (1) of section 315;

(d) a notice under sub-section (2) of section 317;

(e) an order directing the disposal of things removed under Chapter XV or seized under section 344, or an order rejecting the claim of any person for the balance of the proceeds of sale of the things so disposed of;

(f) an order sanctioning or refusing to sanction the erection of any building or the execution of any work under section 336;

(g) an order with holding sanction under the proviso to sub-section (1) of section 337;

(h) an order cancelling a sanction under section 338;

(i) an order requiring the rounding off, splaying or cutting off the height of a building intended to be erected, or for the acquisition of any portion of a site, under section 339;

(j) an order disallowing the erection of any building or the execution of any work under section 340;

(k) an order requiring the stoppage of any erection or work under section 344;

(l) an order requiring the alteration of any building or work under section 345;

(m) an order directing the sealing of unauthorised constructions under section 345A;

(n) an order refusing to grant permission under sub-section (2) of section 346;

(o) an order granting or refusing permission under section 347;

(p) any such other order or notice relating to or arising out of planned development under the provisions of this Act as may be prescribed by rules.

(2) An appeal under this section shall be filed within thirty days from the date of the order or notice appealed against:

Provided that the Appellate Tribunal may entertain an appeal after the expiry of the said period of thirty days if it is satisfied that there was sufficient cause for not filing it within that period.

(3) An Appeal to the Appellate Tribunal shall be made in such form and shall be accompanied by a copy of the order or notice appealed against and by such fees as may be prescribed by rules.

347C. Procedure of the Appellate Tribunal.-

(1) The Appellate Tribunal may, after giving the parties to the appeal, an opportunity of being heard, pass such orders thereon as it thinks fit, confirming, modifying or annulling the order or notice appealed against or may refer the case back to the authority or officer against whose order or notice the appeal is filed, for a fresh order or notice, after taking additional evidence, if necessary, or such other action as the Appellate Tribunal may specify.

(2) The Appellate Tribunal shall send a copy of every order passed by it to the parties to the appeal.

(3) No Appellate Tribunal shall, in any appeal pending before it in respect of any order or notice under this Act, make an interim order (whether by way of injunction or stay) against the Corporation or against any officer or servant of the Corporation acting or purporting to act in his official capacity, unless an opportunity is given to the Corporation or its officer or servant to be heard in the matter:

Provided that the Appellate Tribunal may without giving an opportunity as aforesaid make an interim order as an exceptional measure if it is satisfied for reasons to be recorded by it in writing that it is necessary so to do for preventing any loss being caused to the person filing the appeal which cannot be adequately compensated in money:

Provided further that every such interim order shall, if it is not vacated earlier, cease to have effect on the expiry of a period of fourteen days from the date on which it is made unless before the expiry of that period, the Appellate Tribunal confirms or modifies that order after giving to the Corporation or its officer or servant an opportunity of being heard.

(4) Subject to rules that may be made by the Central Government in this behalf, the awarding of damages in and the costs of, and incidental to, any appeal before an Appellate Tribunal, shall be in its discretion and it shall have full power to determine by and to whom and to what extent and subject to what conditions, if any, such damages or costs are to be paid and to give, in its order disposing of an appeal, necessary directions for the purposes aforesaid.

(5) An order of the Appellate Tribunal made under this section may be executed or caused to be executed by it on the application of the person in whose favour the order has been made.

(6) In hearing and deciding an appeal or in the execution of an order, an Appellate Tribunal shall follow such procedure as may be prescribed by rules.

(7) Every Appellate Tribunal, shall, in addition to the powers conferred on it under this Act, have the same powers as are vested in a Civil Court while trying a suit under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), in respect of the following matters, namely:-

(a) summoning and enforcing the attendance of persons and examining them on oath;

(b) requiring the discovery and inspection of documents;

(c) receiving evidence on affidavits;

(d) requisitioning any public record or copies thereof from any court or office;

(e) issuing commisisons for the examination of witnesses or documents; and

(f) any other matter which may be prescribed by rules, and every proceeding of an Appellate Tribunal in hearing or deciding an appeal or in connection with the execution of its order, 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 (45 of 1860), and every Appellate Tribunal shall be deemed to a Civil Court for the purposes of section 195 and Chapter XXVI of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974).

347D. Appeal against orders of Appellate Tribunal.-

(1) An appeal shall lie to the Administrator against an order of the Appellate Tribunal, made in an appeal under section 343 or section 347B, confirming, modifying or annulling an order made or notice issued under this Act.

(2) The provisions of sub-sections (2) and (3) of section 347B and section 347C and the rules made thereunder, shall, so far as may be, apply to the filing and disposal of an appeal under this section as they apply to the filing and disposal of an appeal under those sections.

(3) An order of the Administrator on an appeal under this section, and subject only to such order, an order of the Appellate Tribunal under section 347B, and subject to such orders of the Administrator or an Appellate Tribunal, an order or notice referred to in sub-section (1) of that section, shall be final.

347E. Bar of jurisdiction of courts.-

(1) After the commencement of section 7 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 1984 (42 of 1984), no court shall entertain any suit, application or other proceedings in respect of any order or notice appealable under section 343 or section 347B and no such order or notice shall be called in question otherwise than by preferring an appeal under those sections.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), every suit, application or other proceeding pending in any court immediately before the commencement of section 7 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 1984 (42 of 1984), in respect of any order or notice appealable under section 343 or section 347B, shall continue to be dealt with and disposed of by that court as if the said section had not been brought into force.]

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