Suspension of sentences

Section 164 of the Navy Act, 1957 deals with suspension of sentences. Where a person has been sentenced to imprisonment or detention, the Central Government or the officer who by virtue of the foregoing section or sub-section (3) of section 150 has power to issue an order of committal (hereinafter in this section referred to as "the committing authority") may, in lieu The Act came into force on 01 Jan 1958.

(1) Where a person has been sentenced to imprisonment or detention, the Central Government or the officer who by virtue of the foregoing section or sub-section (3) of section 150 has power to issue an order of committal (hereinafter in this section referred to as "the committing authority") may, in lieu of issuing such an order, order that the sentence be suspended until an order of committal is issued, and in such case--

(a) notwithstanding anything in this Act, the term of the sentence shall not be reckoned as commencing until an order of committal is issued;

(b) the case may at any time, and shall at intervals of not more than three months, be reconsidered by the Central Government or committing authority or the prescribed officer, and if on any such reconsideration it appears to the Central Government or committing authority or such prescribed officer that the conduct of the offender since his conviction has been such as to justify a remission of the sentence, the Central Government or committing authority or such prescribed officer shall remit the whole or any part of it;

(c) subject to regulations made under this Act, the Central Government or the committing authority or such prescribed officer may at any time whilst the sentence is suspended issue an order of committal and thereupon the sentence shall cease to be suspended;

(d) where a person subject to naval law, whilst a sentence on him is so suspended, is sentenced to imprisonment or detention for any other offence then, if he is at any time committed either under the suspended sentence or under any such subsequent sentence, and whether or not any such subsequent sentence has also been suspended, the committing authority may direct that the two sentences shall run either concurrently or consecutively, so, however, as not to cause a person to undergo detention for a period exceeding the aggregate of two consecutive years.

(2) When a person has been sentenced to imprisonment or detention and an order of committal has been issued, the Central Government or the committing authority, or prescribed officer may order the sentence to be suspended, and in such cases the person whose sentence is suspended shall be discharged and the currency of the sentence shall be suspended until he is again committed under the same sentence, and the provisions of clauses (b), (c) and (d) of sub-section (1) shall apply in like manner as in the case where a sentence has been suspended before an order of committal has been issued.

(3) Where a sentence is suspended under this section, whether before or after committal, the Central Government or, subject to regulations made under this Act, the committing authority or officer by whom the sentence is suspended may, direct that any penalty which is involved by the punishment of imprisonment or detention either shall be or shall not be remitted or suspended.

Section 164, The Navy Act, 1957 (Act 62 of 1957).