' MALIK MANZOOR HUSSAIN, J.---Fazli Ahad filed this appeal against the judgment/order dated 11-4- 2012 passed by the learned Cantonment Rent Controller, Nowshera to which the defence of present appellant was struck off under section 17(9) of Cantonments Rent Restriction Act, 1963.
2. Brief facts of the present appeal are that Mst.Hussan Zari widow of Gharib Khan through her attorney filed an application for ejectment before the Rent Controller on 26-11-2010. During pendency of the said application the lower tribunal under subsection (8) of section 17 of Act, 1963, ordered the respondents to pay the rent before 5th of each month. The record transpired that the present appellant failed to deposit the rent for the month of December, 2009 and July, 2010 within the prescribed time rather the rent for the month of July, 2010 was deposited on 30-8-2010. The present-respondents preferred an application before the Rent Controller for striking of the defence of the present appellant under section 17(9) of the Act, which was allowed vide the impugned order dated 11-4-2012. Thus the present appeal by the appellant.
' Arguments heard and record perused.
3. Admittedly, the present respondents defaulted in payment of rent for the month of December, 2009 and July 2010 which were deposited on 5-1-2010 and 30-8-2010 respectively, with no plausible reason given for such default. On this aspect of the matter, the legal position is very clear.
According to subsection (9) of section 17 of the Cantonments Rent Restriction Act, 1963, if a tenant fails to deposit the amount of rent before specific date or before 5th of each month, his defence shall be struck off. On the perusal it is manifest that the provisions as enshrined in the statute is mandatory in nature and there is consistent view of apex Court as well as of this Court that even one day's delay in making the deposit would come within the meaning of default and the Rent Controller has no power to extend the time or condoned the same. This matter was settled in the case of Misbahullah Khan v. Mst.Memoona Taskinuddin reported in (1995 SCM R 287), Mst. Fatima Gul v. Malik Saeed Akhtar (PLD 2005 SC 34) and Khwaja Muhammad Mughees v. Mrs.Sughra Dadi (2001 SCM R 2020).
4. As the appellant did not adhere to the direction of the learned Rent Controller and failed to deposit the rent within the prescribed time, the Rent Controller had no option but to invoke the penal provisions as contained in subsection (9) of section 17 of the Act.
' Resultantly, this appeal has no merit and is dismissed along with C.M. No,196 of 2012.