(1)

Any person aggrieved by a demolition order made under section 378-B or section 378-E may, within twenty-one days after the date of the service of the order, appeal to the Chief Judge of the Small Causes Court (hereinafter in this section referred to as the Chief Judge), and no proceedings shall be taken by the Commissioner to enforce any order in relation to which an appeal is brought before the appeal is finally determined:

Provided that no appeal shall lie at the instance of a person who is in occupation of the premises to which the order relates under a lease or agreement of which the expired term does not exceed three years.

(2)

On such an appeal under this section the Chief Judge may make such order either confirming or quashing or varying the demolition order as he thinks fit, and he may, if thinks fit, accept from an appellant any such undertaking as might have been accepted by the Commissioner, and any undertaking so accepted by the Chief Judge shall have the like effect as if it had been given to and accepted by the Commissioner under section 378-B:

Provided that the Chief Judge shall not accept from an appellant upon whom such a notice as is mentioned in sub-section (1) of section 378-B was served an undertaking to carry out any works unless the appellant complied with the requirements of sub-section (2) of that section.

(3)

An appeal shall lie to the High Court from a decision of the Chief Judge under this section when the rateable value, entered in the Commissioner's assessment book in accordance with the provisions of this Act, of the premises to which the demolition order appealed against wholly or partially relates, exceeds Rs. 3,000.

(4)

The provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, with respect to original decrees shall, so far as they can be made applicable, apply to appeals under sub-section (3), and orders passed therein by the High Court may, on application to the Chief Judge, be executed as if they were decrees passed by himself.

(5)

A decision passed by the Chief Judge under this section shall, if an appeal does not lie therefrom under sub-section (3), be final.

(6)

An appeal to the High Court under sub-section (3), shall for the purposes of the second division of the first Schedule to [the Limitation Act, 1963] [These words were substituted for the words 'the Indian limitation Act, 1908' by Maharashtra 10 of 1998, Section 188.], be deemed to be an appeal under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, to the Court of a District Judge.

(7)

Any order against which an appeal might be brought under this section shall, if no such appeal is brought, become operative on the expiration of the period of twenty-one days mentioned in sub-section (1) and shall be final and conclusive as to any matters which could have been raised on such an appeal, and any such order against which an appeal is brought shall, if and so far as it is confirmed by the Chief Judge, or the High Court, become operative as from the date of the final determination of the appeal.

(8)

For the purposes of this section, the withdrawal of an appeal shall be deemed to be final determination thereof, having the like effect as a decision confirming the order appealed against and, subject as aforesaid, an appeal shall be deemed to be finally determined on the date when the decision of the High Court is given, or in a case where no appeal is brought to the High Court, upon the expiration of the period within which such an appeal might have been brought, or in a case where no appeal lies to the High Court, on the date when the decision of the Chief Judge is given.