Union of India & Ors Vs. Capt. A.P. Bajpai
[1998] INSC 119 (20
February 1998)
Sujata
V. Manohar, D.P. Wadhwa D.P. Wadhwa. J.
ACT:
HEAD NOTE:
THE
20TH DAY OF FEBRUARY, 1998 Present :
Hon'ble
Mrs. Justice Sujata V. Manohar Hon'ble Mrs. Justice D.P. Wadhwa P.P. Malhotra,
N.N. Goswami, Sr, Advs., A.K. Srivastava, Hemant Sharma and Ms. Anil Katiyar, Advs,
with them for the appellants. J.S. Sinha, Rajiv Dutta, Randhir Singh, Advs, for
the Respondent
The
following Judgment of the Court was delivered:
The
respondent, an officer in the army, was tried by General Court Martial on the
following two charges:
"(i)
Under Army Act Section 52(a) for committing theft of property belonging to the
Government in that he, at Pithoragarh on 08 Sep 77 committed theft of the following
property belonging to the Govt :-
(aa)
Jam td Kissan 4 tins (450 gms each) - 1.800 Kgs
(bb)
Pine apple td 6 tins (850 gms each) - 5.100 Kgs.
(cc)
Sausage td 9 tins (400 gms each) - 3.600 Kgs.
(dd)
Coffee 1 tins (500 gms) - 0.500 Kgs.
(ee)
Milk td 54 tins (397 gms each) - - 21. 438 Kgs.
(ii)
Under Army Act Section 39 (b) for absenting himself without leave in that he,
at Pithoragarh, in 03 Jun 78, while attached to Station Headquarters Pithoragarh,
absented himself without leave until voluntarily rejoined on 07 Jun 78."
After the conclusion of the trial by order dated January 21, 1979 General Court Martial held the respondent not guilty of the
first charge of theft, but found him guilty of the second charge and sentenced
him to forfeit three years' service for the purpose of promotion and to be
severely reprimanded. Under Section 153 of the Army Act, 1953 (for short `the
Act'), the finding or sentence shall be valid except so far as it may be
confirmed as provided by the' Act. Under Section 154 the finding and sentence
of General Government, or by any officer empowered in this behalf by warrant of
the Central Government. When the matter was placed before the General Officer
Commanding U.P. Area, the competent confirming authority, he in the exercise of
his power under Section 160 of the Act revised the findings of the General
Court martial on the first charge and directed it to reconsider the entire
evidence relating to the first charge in the light of the observation made by
him in the order. He gave the following directions for the General Court
Martial to observe:
"If
the Court, on revision, revokes its earlier finding on the first charge and
find the accused guilty of the first charge, it shall revoke its earlier
sentence and pass a suitable fresh sentence.
After
this revision order is read in open Court, the accused shall be given a further
opportunity to address the Court. Therefore, if it becomes necessary to clear
any points raised by the accused, the Judge Advocate may give a further Summing
up.
The
attention of the Court is invited to Army Act Section 160 and Army Rule 68 and
the form of proceedings on revision on page 370 of the MIML 1961 reprint, which
should be modified to conform to Army Rule 62(10)." In pursuance to the
aforesaid order of the confirming authority, General Court Martial assembled on
March 10, 1979 and on the request of the
respondent was adjourned to the following day. The respondent made written
submissions which were taken on record. After reconsideration the court held
the respondent guilty of both first and the second charges.
Respondent
was thereafter sentenced to be dismissed from service by order dated March 11, 1979. The conviction and sentence so
passed on the respondent was confirmed by the Chief of the Army Staff by order
dated September 14,
1979 which was
promulgated on September
24, 1979.
The
respondent under Section 164 (2) of the Act preferred a post confirmation
petition before the Central Government which was rejected. The respondent
thereafter filed the writ petition in the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad challenging his conviction and
sentence. A Division Bench of the High Court by impugned judgment dated
December 22. 1992 set aside the conviction and sentence passed on the
respondent on the first charge and held that punishment on the second charge
was yet to be confirmed by the confirming authority so as to make the same
operative.
On
leave being granted, the appellants have filed this appeal.
The
stage from which the High Court thought it necessary to interfere in the
proceedings was when the confirming authority passed order under Section 160 of
the Act revising the order of the General Court Martial holding the respondent
not guilty of the first charge. High Court was of the view that the confirming
authority had analysed the evidence minutely almost returning the finding of
guilt against the respondent and leaving no discretion with the General Court
Martial to act otherwise. High Court termed the observations of the confirming
authority unwarranted and said that even the subsequent confirming authority
being the Chief of the Army Staff overlooked the abuse of the power committed
by the first confirming authority under Section 160 of the Act in reappreciating
the whole evidence on record in respect of the quilt of the respondent and
further that the authorities did not care to read the revisional order of the
confirming authority properly and rejected the statutory representation of the
respondent. High Court did notice the following observations of the confirming
authority in its order of revision but said it was a very ingenious method
adopted by the confirming authority to influence the Court Martial and said
that the whole thing was a mere camouflage:
"While
in no way wishing to interfere with the discretion of the court to arrive at a
particular finding or sentence, and regarding the value to be attached to the
evidence on record and the inference to be deducted therefrom, I, as the
confirming officer, am of the view that the finding of `not guilty' on the
first charge arrived at by the court is perverse being against the weight of
overwhelming evidence...." High Court was thus of the view that the first
confirming authority over-stepped its jurisdiction and that its order was
invalid. High Court relied on a decision of the Delhi High Court in Naib Subedar
Avtar vs. Union of India [1989 Cr1.L.J. 1986 rendered by a single Judge where
that Court took the view that the confirming authority could not appreciate
evidence as its jurisdiction was limited and that where the confirming
authority had given directions to the Court Martial to reverse the findings of
"not guilty" into "guilty", the order of the confirming
authority was held to be bad and liable to be quashed.
In our
view, the High Court did not properly appreciated the scope and intent of
Section 160 of the Act.
Section
160 is as under:
"160.
(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." Rule 68 of
Army Rules, 1954 deals with confirmation and revision of finding or sentence of
a Court Martial. There are Notes under this Rule and Note 6 is relevant. These
are:
"68.
Revision.- (1) Where the finding is sent back for revision under Section 160,
the court shall reassemble in open court, the revision order shall be read, and
if the court is directed to take fresh evidence, such evidence shall also be
taken in open court. The court shall then deliberate on its finding in closed
court.
(2)
Where the finding is sent back for revision and the court does not adhere to
its former finding, it shall revoke and finding and sentence and record the new
finding, and if such new finding involves a sentence, pass sentence afresh.
(3)
Where the sentence alone is sent back for revision, the court shall not revise
the finding.
(4)
After the revision, the presiding officer shall date and sign the decision of
the court, and the proceedings, upon being signed by the Judge-Advocate, if
any, shall at once be transmitted for confirmation.
NOTES
1 to 5 xxx xxx xxx
6. If
a court brings in a finding of "not guilty" against the weight of
evidence, the court may be re- assembled and the confirming officer may give
his views on the evidence, directing the attention of the court to any special
points which it appears to have failed to appreciate." The finding of
sentence of the Court Martial can be revised once by the confirming authority.
If after remand the Court Martial returns the same finding or sentence
confirming authority would be bound by the same. As to why the confirming
authority would like the Court Martial to reconsider the matter, it has per
force to give its views which it can do only after examining the evidence on
record and the proceedings of the Court Martial.
In
Capt. Harish Uppal vs. Union of India and Others [1973 2 SCR 1023] the
petitioner, an officer in the Army, was tried before the Summary General Court
Martial on the charge of committing robbery on December 11, 1971 at Hajiganj
(in Bangladesh) of the properties of the Bank, its Manager as well as of the Chowkidar.
The court sentenced him to be cashiered. This sentence was subject to
confirmation.
The
confirming authority passed an order directing the revision of the sentence.
Thereafter the petitioner was brought before the same Court Martial and after
considering the observations of the confirming authority revoked the earlier
sentence and now sentenced him to be cashiered and to suffer rigorous
imprisonment for two years. This finding and sentence were subsequently
confirmed. It was challenged in the Supreme Court in a petition under Article
32 of the Constitution and one of the arguments was that the authority to
confirm the sentence passed by a Court Martial did not confer on the confirming
authority the power to enhance the sentence and that authority could not
achieve that object indirectly by directing the revision of the sentence. It
was contended that the Court Martial verdict should be unfettered. This Court
examined the order of revision of the confirming authority. While sending the
matter back of the Court martial the confirming authority gave a caution that
"whilst in no way intending the quantum of punishment to be awarded, the
court should fully of punishment to be awarded, the court should fully take
into consideration the following observations of the Confirming Officer"
and also that the court should then carefully consider all the above and should
they decide the enhance the sentence, then fresh sentence should be announced
in open court as being subject to confirmation. This Court held that the order
of the confirming authority directing revision was in no way vitiated.
In Gian
Chand vs. Union of India and others [1983 Crl.L.J. 1059] a division bench of the
Delhi High Court said that a direction given by the confirming authority to the
General Court Martial to reconsider the finding or sentence could not be said
to be a fetter on the exercise of powers of the General Court Martial. High
Court said that an order under Section 160 was a sort of an application for
review which was made by the confirming authority and the statute, thereupon,
caste a duty on the General Court Martial to reconsider its earlier finding or
sentence but it was not obliged to change its earlier view. It further said
that the Court Martial when it was reconsidering the matter in pursuance of a
direction having been issued under Section 160 had to apply its mind to the
case independently, uninfluenced by any observations which might have been made
in the direction given by the confirming authority. These two decision, it
would appear, were not brought to the notice of the Judges of the Allahabad
High Court while delivering the impugned judgment as there is no reference to
the aforesaid two decisions, one of the Supreme Court and the other of the
Division Bench of the Delhi High Court.
In Ex.
Lieut Jagdish Pal Singh vs. Union of India and Ors. [Criminal Appeal NO. 104 of
1991 decided on May 7,
1997] the appellant
was a commissioned officer in the Army and faced trial before a Court Martial
on the accusation of taking away large number of bottles of Rum worth about
Rs.5616/- from the military canteen. After trial the Court Martial held the
charge not proved against the appellant.
When
the matter was placed before the confirming authority as required under Section
153 of the Act, the confirming authority remitted the matter to the Court
Martial indicating various aspects of the case which had not been considered
properly. It was made clear by the confirming authority at the outset that the
observations made by the confirming authority were not made to in any way
interfere with the discretion of the members of the Court Martial in basing its
finding on reconsideration of the matter.
Thereafter
the Court Martial met again and on reconsideration came to the finding that the
appellant was held guilty of the offence and sentenced him to be dismissed from
service. The finding and sentence were later confirmed by the confirming
authority. The appellant filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court it was
contended that the revisional authority was empowered merely to direct for
additional evidence and that no such direction had been given and on the
contrary observation on merits of the case was made overstepping the limit of
jurisdiction by the confirming authority. This Court held that the confirming
authority had not made any finding which was likely to cause prejudice against
the appellant and that it had at the very outset made it clear that the Court
Martial was free to decide by adverting to certain basic features indicated by
the confirming authority. This Court therefore refused to interfere in the
matter.
We are
unable to subscribe to the submissions now advanced before us that the
jurisdiction of the confirming authority is confined only to giving of
directions for recording additional evidence by General Court Martial or that
from the order of the confirming authority "inference cannot be escaped
that this is based not on any independent judgment but influenced by the
undisguised opinion expressed by the confirming authority on merits of the
case" or that the revisional order contained such unwarranted
observations, which were tantamount to recording of finding, which was in no
way the function of the confirming authority or that jurisdiction" by
confirming authority. It was asserted that the order in revision was liable to
be quashed and rightly done so by the High Court. All this, however, appears to
us to be mistaken view entertained by the High Court both in law and from the
facts of the case.
There
is no dispute that in the conduct of the Court Martial proceedings before and
at the stage of reconsideration procedure as prescribed was followed. It is the
true that the confirming authority did analyses the evidence on the record of
proceedings of the Court Martial but that was so done in the context of
indicating where the Court Martial could have gone wrong in appreciation of
evidence and nevertheless caution had been administered to the Court Martial
that what was said in the revision order was not intended in any way to
interfere with the discretion of the Court Martial to arrive at a particular
finding or sentence and regarding the value to be attached to the evidence on
record and the inference to be deducted there from. Confirming authority said:
"Consequently,
I am also of the view that the sentence awarded on finding the accused quality
of the second charge is not commensurate with the gravity of the offence. At
the very outset, I wish to impress that where the Court ignores the broad
features of the prosecution case, and restricts itself to a consideration of
minor discrepancies and further meticulously juxtaposes the evidence of
different witnesses on disputed points and discards the evidence in its
entirety when discrepancies are found, the method can rightly be criticised as
fallacious. It has to consider whether there is any direct/reliable evidence on
questions which have to be established by the prosecution.
Undoubtedly,
in considering whether evidence is reliable, it is justified in directing
attention to other evidence which contradicts or is inconsistent with the
evidence relied upon by the prosecution. But to discard all evidence because
there are discrepancies without any attempt at evaluation of the inherent
quality of the evidence is unwarranted. The court should make an effort to
disengage the truth from falsehood. It is an error to take and easy course by
holding the evidence discrepant and the whole case untrue. Even when the prosecution
witnesses have not deposed the whole truth and although it may not be possible
to get an absolutely true picture of the events from their evidence, it is not
proper and justifiable to say that the prosecution case is a complete
fabrication. Bearing in mind these principles the Court should examine the
evidence adduced before them in respect of each charge." It was contended
by the respondent that the very use of the expression "perverse" in
the revision order would have influenced the mind of the members of the General
Court Martial as the officers constituting the General Court Martial were lower
in rank than the confirming authority who was of the rank of Major General and
that the confirming authority of its own appreciated whole of the evidence
instead of saying as to what evidence was to be considered by the General Court
Martial which had the effect of influencing the General Court Martial. An
argument was also raised that when the Court Martial reassembled after the
revision order the whole proceeding concluded within half an hour and the
General Court Martial returned finding of guilt against the respondent. That
according to the respondent would show that the General Court Martial did not
apply its mind independently and was swayed by the opinion of the confirming
authority. It was lastly submitted that there was no ground for the confirming
authority to interfere in the proceeding of the General Court Martial which had
considered the evidence and argument in depth and held the first charge not
proved against the respondent. We are unable to agree to any of the
submissions. Confirming authority cannot act merely as a rubber stamp. The fact
that the finding and sentence of Court Martial should be valid only after it is
confirmed by the competent authority would show that it has to examine the
whole of the record of the proceeding of the Court Martial before confirming
the finding or sentence. It is the requirement of Section 160 that when the
confirming authority wished that the finding or sentence of a Court Martial
required revision it should not send back the case as a matter of course but
record reasons as to why the confirming authority thought so as to where the
Court Martial has failed in its duty to properly examine the facts and in application
of correct law. When the matter is remitted back to the Court Martial under
Section 160 the Court Martial may take additional evidence if so directed by
the confirming authority. In the present case no such direction was given by
the confirming authority and there was no occasion for the General Court
Martial to record additional evidence. Full opportunity was given to the
respondent to make submission before the General Court Martial after it had
reassembled and as the record would show copy of the revisional order was also
supplied to respondent and he made his submission in writing. The Court
thereafter that it revoked its earlier finding and sentence and held the
respondent guilty of the first and second charge. It cannot be said that the
finding and sentence after reconsideration was arrived at in a hurried fashion.
We
have noted above that now it was the Chief of the Army Staff who confirmed the
finding and sentence and when he did so it could not be said that the whole of
the record was not before him. We do not think that the confirming authority
exceeded its jurisdiction in analysing the evidence recorded during Court
Martial proceedings. The revision order was not intended in any way to
interfere with the discretion of the Court Martial and the Court Martial was
also not bound by any such observation.
We,
therefore, allow the appeal, ser aside the Judgment of the High Court and
dismiss the writ petition filed by the respondent.
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