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.
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.
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.
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.
157. Power to confirm finding and sentence of summary general court-martial.—The findings
and sentences of summary general court-martial may be confirmed by the convening officer or if he so
directs, by an 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 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.
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.
1. Subs. by Act 37 of 1992, s. 14, for certain words.
2. Subs. by the Adaptation of Laws (No. 3) Order, 1956 for “a Part B State”.
3. Subs. by Act 37 of 1992, s. 16, for certain words.
* Vide Notification No. S.O. 3912 (E), dated 30th October, 2019, this Act is made applicable to the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and
the Union territory of Ladakh.
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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 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.
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.
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 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.
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 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 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 as if it were a finding or sentence, as the case may be, of a
court-martial.
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
1. Subs. by Act 19 of 1955, s. 2 and the Schedule, for “the Commander-in-Chief ”.
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the Army Staff] or any prescribed officer superior in command 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.
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.