Limit GET/POST not working in .htaccess

i have some files as shown below

  |.htaccess
  |-index.php
  |-subfolder
       |--.htaccess

one .htaccess file is in root folder,another .htaccess file is in one subfolder

The root's .htaccess have this below code

<If "%{HTTP_HOST} == 'abc.web.com'">
php_value auto_prepend_file "/var/www/vhosts/http://ift.tt/2xGt453"
</If>
<Else>
php_value auto_prepend_file "/var/www/vhosts/http://ift.tt/2wM9uYw"    
</Else>

and subfolder's .htaccess file having the below code

AuthUserFile /var/www/vhosts/http://ift.tt/2xFQhUS
AuthGroupFile /dev/null 
AuthName "Password Protected Area"
AuthType Basic
<Limit GET>
 require valid-user
</Limit>

Now the problem is <Limit GET> block is working only after commenting out the If else block in the root's .htaccess file.

if the if else code block is present in the root's .htaccess file then the Limit get code block in the subfolder's .htaccess file is not working.

Any idea why its behaving like this !