Payment of rent during eviction proceedings.
If, in any proceeding for the recovery of possession of any premises on any ground other than that referred to in clause a of sub- section 2 of section 22, the tenant contests the claim for eviction, the landlord may, at any stage of the proceeding, make an application to the Rent Authority for an order on the tenant to pay to the landlord the amount of rent legally recoverable from the tenant and the Rent Authority may, after giving the parties an opportunity of being heard, make an order directing the tenant to pay to the landlord or deposit with the Rent Authority within one month of the date of the order, an amount calculated at the rate of rent at which it was last paid for the period for which the arrears of the rent were legally recoverable from the tenant including the period subsequent thereto up to the end of the month previous to that in which payment or deposit is made and to continue to pay or deposit, month by month, by the fifteenth of each succeeding month, a sum equivalent to the rent at that rate.
2 if, in any proceeding referred to in sub- section 7 , there is any dispute as to the amount of rent payable by the tenant, the Rent Authority shall, within fifteen days of the date of the first bearing of the proceeding, fix an interim rent in relation to the premises to be paid or deposited in accordance with the provisions of sub- section 1 , until the rent in relation thereto is determined having regard to the provisions of this Act, and the amount of arrears, if any, calculated on the basis of the rent so determined shall be paid or deposited by the tenant within one month of the date en which the standard rent is fixed or such further time as the Rent Authority may allow in this behalf.
If, in any proceeding referred to in sub- section 1 , there is any dispute as to the person or persons to whom the rent is payable, the Rent Authority may direct the tenant to deposit with the Rent Authority the amount payable by him under sub- section 1 or sub- section 2 , as the case may be, and in such a case, no person shall be entitled to withdraw the amount in deposit until the Rent Authority decides the dispute and makes an order for payment of the same.
If the Rent Authority is satisfied that any dispute referred to in subsection 3 has been raised by a tenant for reasons which are false or frivolous, the Rent Authority may order the defence against eviction to be struck out and proceed with the hearing of the application.
If a tenant fails to make payment or deposit as required by this section, the Rent Authority may order the defence against eviction to be struck out and proceed with the hearing of the application.