Army Act, 1950 Chapter XII

No finding or sentence of a general, district or summary general, court-martial shall be valid except so far as it may be confirmed as provided by this Act.

The findings and sentences of general courts-martial may be confirmed by the Central Government, or by any officer empowered in this behalf by warrant of the Central Government.

The findings and sentences of district courts-martial may be confirmed by any officer having power to convene a general court-martial or by any officer empowered in this behalf by warrant of such officer.

A warrant issued under section 154 or section 155 may contain such restrictions, reservations or conditions as the authority issuing it may think fit.

The findings and sentences of summary general courts-martial may be confirmed by the convening officer or if he so directs, by an authority superior to him.

( 1) Subject to such restrictions, reservations or conditions as may be contained in any warrant issued under section 154 or section 155 and to the provision of sub-section( 2), a confirming authority may, when confirming the sentence of a court-martial, mitigate or remit the punishment thereby awarded, or commute that punishment for any punishment or punishments lower in the scale laid down in section 71.

( 2) A sentence of transportation shall not be commuted for a sentence of imprisonment for a term exceeding the term of transportation awarded by the court.¹

________________

1. See. IPC Sec. 53 A.

When any person subject to this Act is tried and sentenced by a court-martial while on board a ship, the finding and sentence so far as not confirmed and executed on board the ship, may be confirmed and executed in like manner as if such person had been tried at the port of disembarkation.

(1) Any finding or sentence of a court-martial which requires confirmation may be once revised by order of the confirming authority and on such revision, the court, if so directed by the confirming authority, may take additional evidence.

(2) The court, on revision, shall consist of the same officers as were present when the original decision was passed, unless any of those officers are unavoidably absent.

(3) In case of such unavoidable absence the cause thereof shall be duly certified in the proceedings, and the court shall proceed with the revision, provided that, if a general court-martial, it still consists of five officers, or, if a summary general or district court-martial, of three officers.

(1) Save as otherwise provided in sub-section (2), the finding and sentence of a summary' court-martial shall not require to be confirmed, but may be carried out forthwith.

(2) If the officer holding the trial is of less than five years service, he shall not, except on active service, carry into effect any sentence until it has received the approval of an officer commanding not less than a brigade.

The proceedings of even' summary court-martial shall without delay be forwarded to the officer commanding the division or brigade within which the trial was held, or to the prescribed officer; and such officer, or¹[the Chief of the Army Staff], or any officer empowered in this behalf by¹[the Chief of the Army Staff], may, for reasons based on the merits of the case, but not any merely technical grounds, set aside the proceedings or reduce the sentence to any other sentence which the court might have passed.

_____________________

1 . Substituted b y Act 19 of 1955 , sec. 2 and Sch., for "the Commander-in-Chief'".

(1) Where a finding of guilty by a court-martial, which has been confirmed, or which does not require confirmation, is found for any reason to be invalid or cannot be supported by the evidence, the authority which would have had power under section 179 to commute the punishment awarded by the sentence, if the finding had been valid, may substitute a new finding and pass a sentence for the offence specified or involved in such finding:

Provided that no such substitution shall be made unless such finding could have been validly made by the court-martial on the charge and unless it appears that the court-martial must have been satisfied of the facts establishing the said offence.

(2) Where a sentence passed by a court-martial which has been confirmed, or which does not require confirmation, not being a sentence passed in pursuance of a new finding substituted under sub-section (1), is found for any reason to be invalid, the authority referred to in sub-section (1) may pass a valid sentence.

(3) The punishment awarded by a sentence passed under sub-section (1) or subsection (2) shall not be higher in the scale of punishments than, or in excess of, the punishment awarded by, the sentence for which a new sentence is substituted under this section.

(4) Any finding substituted, or any sentence passed, under this section shall, for the purposes of this Act and the rules made thereunder, have effect as if it were a finding or sentence, as the case may be, of a court-martial.

(1) Anyperson subject to this Act who considers himselfaggrieved by any order passed byanycourt-martial may present a petition to the officer or authority empowered toconfirm any finding or sentence of such court-martial, and the confirmingauthority may take such steps as may be considered necessary to satisfy itselfas to the correctness, legality or propriety of the orderpassed or as to the regularity of any proceeding to which the orderrelates.

(2) Anyperson subject to this Act who considers himselfaggrieved by a finding or sentence of any court-martial which has beenconfirmed, may present a petition to the Central Government, ¹ [the Chiefof the Army Staff or any prescribed officer superior in command to the one whoconfirmed such finding or sentence, and the Central Government, ¹ [the Chief of the Army Staff] or otherofficer, as the case may be, may pass such orders thereon as it or hethinks fit.

_____________________

1. Substituted by Act 19 of 1955,sec. 2 and Sch., for "theCommander-in-Chief'".

The Central Government,¹[the Chief of the Army Staff] or any prescribed officer may annul the proceedings of any court-martial on the ground that they are illegal or unjust.

_____________________

1 . Substituted b y Act 19 of 1955 , sec. 2 and Sch., for "the Commander-in-Chief'".