In default of such payment the court shall proceed with the hearing of the suit: Provided that the tenant shall not be entitled to the benefit of protection against eviction under this section if PG NO 339 he makes default in payment of the rent referred to in clause (i) of the proviso to sub section 1 of section 12 on three occasions within a period of eighteen months." "(4) If the tenant contests the suit, as regards claim for ejectment, the plaintiff landlord may make an application at any stage of the suit for order on the tenant defendant to deposit month by month rent at a rate at which it was last paid and also the arrears of rent, if any, and the court after giving an opportunity to the parties to be heard may make an order for deposit of rent at such rate month by month and the arrears of rent, if any, and on failure of the tenant to deposit the arrears of rent within fifteen days of the date of the order or the rent at such rate for any month by the fifteenth day of the next following month, the court shall order the defence against ejectment to be struck out and the tenant to be placed in the same position as if he had not defended the claim to ejectment.