AFT MATTERS IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
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AFT MATTERS –
The Armed Forces Tribunal was inaugurated by Her Excellency the President of India on the 8th August 2009
The Armed Forces Tribunal Act 2007, was passed by the Parliament and led to the formation of AFT with the power provided for the adjudication or trial by Armed Forces Tribunal of disputes and complaints with respect to commission, appointments, enrolments and conditions of service in respect of persons subject to the Army Act, 1950, The Navy Act, 1957 and the Air Force Act, 1950. It can further provide for appeals arising out of orders, findings or sentences of courts- martial held under the said Acts and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
Besides the Principal Bench in New Delhi, AFT has Regional Benches at Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kolkata, Guwahati, Chennai, Kochi, Mumbai, Jabalpur, Srinagar and Jaipur. With the exception of the Chandigarh and Lucknow Regional Benches, which have three benches each, all other locations have a single bench. Each Bench comprises of a Judicial Member and an Administrative Member.
The Judicial Members are retired High Court Judges and Administrative Members are retired Members of the Armed Forces who have held rank of Major General/ equivalent or above for a period of three years or more, Judge Advocate General (JAG), who have held the appointment for at least one year are also entitled to be appointed as the Administrative Member.
The Tribunal shall transact their proceedings as per the Armed Forces Tribunal (Procedure) rules, 2008. All proceedings in the Tribunal will be in English. The Tribunal will normally follow the procedure as is practiced in the High Courts of India. The dress as mandated for the officials of the Tribunal including bar will be white shirt, collar band and a black coat/ jacket.
The Tribunal shall exercise all the jurisdiction, powers and authority exercisable under this Act in relation to appeal against any order, decision, finding or sentence passed by a court martial or any matter connected therewith or incidental thereto. Any person aggrieved by an order, decision, finding or sentence passed by a court martial may prefer an appeal in such form, manner and within such time as may be prescribed.
The Tribunal shall have power to grant bail to any person accused of an offence and in military custody, with or without any conditions which it considers necessary:
The Tribunal shall allow an appeal against conviction by a court martial where the finding of the court martial is legally not sustainable due to any reason whatsoever; or the finding involves wrong decision on a question of law; or there was a material irregularity in the course of the trial resulting in miscarriage of justice, but, in any other case, may dismiss the appeal where the Tribunal considers that no miscarriage of justice is likely to be caused or has actually resulted to the appellant. The Tribunal may allow an appeal against conviction, and pass appropriate order thereon.
The Tribunal may have the powers to substitute for the findings of the court martial, a finding of guilty for any other offence for which the offender could have been lawfully found guilty by the court martial and pass a sentence afresh for the offence specified or involved in such findings or if sentence is found to be excessive, illegal or unjust, the Tribunal may (i) remit the whole or any part of the sentence, with or without conditions; (ii) mitigate the punishment awarded (iii) commute such punishment to any lesser punishment or enhance the sentence awarded by a court martial:
The Tribunal may release the appellant, if sentenced to imprisonment, on parole with or without conditions; suspend a sentence of imprisonment; Or pass any other order as it may think appropriate.
Notwithstanding any other provisions in this Act, for the purposes of jurisdiction and powers, the Tribunal shall be deemed to be a criminal court for the purposes of relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Chapter XXVI of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
Territorial Jurisdiction
The Territorial jurisdiction of the Regional Benches shall flow from the administrative orders issued by the Government of India from time to time. At present the States and Bench-wise territorial jurisdiction is as under :-
Sl. No. | Bench | States |
1. | Principal Bench | New Delhi |
2. | Chandigarh Bench | Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and U.T of Chandigarh |
3. | Lucknow Bench | U.P., U.K. |
4. | Kolkata Bench | West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and U.T. of Andman and Nicobar Islands |
5. | Guwahati Bench | N.E. Region |
6. | Mumbai Bench | Maharashtra and Gujarat |
7. | Kochi Bench | Kerala, Karnataka and Lakshdweep |
8. | Chennai Bench | Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and U.T. of Pondicherry |
9. | Jaipur Bench | Rajasthan |
10. | Jabalpur Bench | M.P. and Chhattisgarh |
11. | Jammu Bench | J&K |
ADVOCATE JAYPRAKASH SOMANI has published 61 books on different AFT matters of Supreme Court’s latest leading case laws and where one book is related to AFT Matters. Name of the book is given below:-
List of Adv. Jayprakash Somani’s Books
1. ARMED FORCE TRIBUNAL ACT- SUPREME COURT’S LATEST LEADING CASE LAWs
Books are available online in India
1. Notion Press: https://notionpress.com/author/jayprakash_somani
2. Amazon: https://www.amazon.in/s?k=jayprakash+somani
3. Flipkart: https://www.flipkart.com/search?q=Jayprakash%20Somani
Books are available online at International Market
4. Amazon International: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=jayprakash+somani
5. Amazon United Kingdom: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=jayprakash+somani
6. E-Books/Kindle edition at National & International Level: https://www.amazon.in/s?k=jaypraksh+somani