Title : THE ARMY ACT, 1950 Year : 1950 Section -153 Finding and sentence not valid, unless confirmed.
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.
Section -154 Power to confirm finding and sentence of general court-martial.
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.
Section -155 Power to confirm finding and sentence of district court-martial.
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.
Section -156 Limitation of powers of confirming authority.
A warrant issued under section 154 or section 155 may contain such restrictions, reservations or conditions as the authority issuing it may think fit.
Section -157 Power to confirm finding and sentence of summary general court-martial.
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.
Section -158 Power of confirming authority to mitigate, remit or commute sentences.
(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.
Section -159 Confirming of findings and sentences on board a ship.
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.
Section -160 Revision of finding or sentence.
(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 con-firming 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.
Section -161 Finding and sentence of a summary court-martial.
(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.
Section -162 Transmission of proceedings of summary court-martial.
The proceedings of every 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, or 1*[the Chief of the Army Staff ], or any officer empowered in this behalf by 1*[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 Subs. by Act 19 of 1955, s. 2 and Sch., for "the Commander-in-
Chief ".
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Section -163 Alteration of finding or sentence in certain cases.
(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 sen-
tence 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 sub-section (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.
Section -164 Remedy against order, finding or sentence of court-martial.
(1) Any person subject to this Act who considers himself aggrieved by any order passed by any court-martial may present a petition to the officer or authority empowered to confirm any finding or sentence of such court-martial, and the confirming authority may take such steps as may be considered necessary to satisfy itself as to the correctness, legality or propriety of the order passed or as to the regularity of any proceeding to which the order relates.
(2) Any person subject to this Act who considers himself aggrieved by a finding or sentence of any court-martial which has been confirmed, may present a petition to the Central Government, 1[the
Chief of the Army Staff ] or any prescribed officer superior in com-
mand to the one who confirmed such finding or sentence, and the
Central Government, 1*[the Chief of the Army Staff ] or other officer, as the case may be, may pass such order thereon as it or he thinks fit.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Subs. by Act 19 of 1955, s. 2 and Sch., for " the Commander-in-
Chief".
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Section -165 Annulment of proceedings.
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 Subs. by Act 19 of 1955, s. 2 and Sch., for " the Commander-in-
Chief".
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last updated on March, 2022
