Page:Army Act, 1950 on Gazette of India.pdf/38

192(36) 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 tho convening officer or if he so directs, by in authority superior to him.

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 they 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 nob be commuted for a sentence of imprisonment for a term exceeding the term of transportation awarded by the court.

159. Confirming of findings and sentenced 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.

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 confirming authority, may take additional evidence.

(2) The court, on revision, shall consist of tho 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 tho 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.

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 officcr commanding not less than a brigade.

162. Transmission of proceedings of summary courts-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 proscribed officer; and such officer, or the Commander-in-Chief, or any officer empowered in this behalf by the Commander-in-Chief, may, for reasons based on the merits of the case but not any merely technical grounds, set aside the proceedings or reduce tho sentence to any other sentence which the court might have passed.

163. Alteration of finding or sentence in certain cases.—(1) Where a finding of guilty by a courtmartial, 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