Section 20 of Himachal Pradesh Urban Rent Control Act, 1987

Receipt to be given for rent paid.- (1) Every tenant shall pay 

rent within the time fixed by contract or in the absence of such contract, by the fifteenth day of the month next following the month for which it is payable. (2) Every tenant who makes payment of rent to his landlord shall be entitled to obtain forthwith from the landlord or his authorised agent a written receipt for the amount paid to him duly signed by the landlord or his authorised agent. (3) If the landlord or his authorised agent refuses or neglects to deliver to the tenant a receipt referred to in sub-section (2), the Controller may, on an application made to him in this behalf by the tenant within two months from the date of payment and after hearing the landlord or his authorised agent, by order, direct the landlord or his authorised agent to pay to the tenant, by way of damages, such sum not exceeding double the amount of rent paid by the tenant and the costs of the application and shall also grant a certificate to the tenant in respect of the rent paid.