On 23/05/2013,
you requested for the version in force on 23/05/2013
incorporating all amendments published on or before 23/05/2013.
The closest version currently available is that of 17/10/1986.
PART IV
JURISDICTION AND LIABILITY
14.
—(1) The following members shall be persons subject to this Act at all times:
(a)
national servicemen enlisted in the Force who are rendering continuous full-time service either as officers or servicemen; and
(b)
officers and servicemen who are appointed to or enlisted in the Force pursuant to section 7(1).
(2) National servicemen enlisted in the Force as either officers or servicemen who are rendering reserve service shall be subject to this Act while on duty, in uniform or while under arrest, in custody or undergoing punishment or detention in accordance with the provisions of this Act.
(3) Auxiliary members shall be subject to this Act while on duty, in uniform or while under arrest, in custody or undergoing punishment or detention in accordance with the provisions of this Act.
(4) For the purposes of subsection (2), a member shall be deemed to be on duty —
(a)
from the time appointed by the Commissioner for him to report to or to attend at a place specified by the Commissioner for rendering any reserve service which he is required to render under the Enlistment Act (Cap. 229) until he is duly released or discharged from that service; or
(b)
while acting or purporting to act in or with intended reference to his capacity as a member of the Force.
(5) For the purposes of subsection (3), an auxiliary member shall be deemed to be on duty while acting or purporting to act in or with intended reference to his capacity as a member of the Force.
15. The regulations may make provision for —
(a)
the exemption of all or any of the classes of members from all or any of the provisions of this Act;
(b)
the modification of any provision so far as it relates to all or any of those classes; or
(c)
the addition or substitution of provisions relating to all or any of those classes.
16. Subject to section 73, a person who has ceased to be a member may, in respect of a service offence committed while he was a member, be dealt with as though he were still a member, if and only if he is charged with the offence within 6 months of his ceasing to be a member.
17.
—(1) Any person subject to this Act who is alleged to have committed a service offence may be charged, dealt with and tried by a court or may be dealt with by a disciplinary officer under the provisions of this Act and shall, if found guilty of the service offence by a court or by a disciplinary officer in accordance with the provisions of this Act, be liable to be punished or dealt with in accordance with the provisions of this Act.
(2) Where a charge against a person for a service offence is dealt with by a disciplinary officer, a reference in any provision of this Act to a conviction shall be construed as a reference to a finding of guilt made by a disciplinary officer.
Trial and punishment of service offences under this Act notwithstanding offender ceasing to be subject to this Act
18.
—(1) Subject to section 19, where a service offence under this Act has been committed, or is reasonably suspected of having been committed, by any person while subject to this Act, then in relation to that service offence he shall be treated, for the purposes of this Act relating to arrest, keeping in custody, investigation of charges, trial and punishment by a disciplinary officer including review and execution of sentences as continuing to be subject to this Act notwithstanding his ceasing at any time to be subject thereto.
(2) Where, while a person is in service custody by virtue of this section (whether before, during or after trial) he commits, or is reasonably suspected of having committed, an offence which if he were subject to this Act would be a service offence, then in relation to that offence or suspected offence he shall be treated, for the purposes of this Act mentioned in subsection (1) and the provisions thereof as to the dealing with charges by a disciplinary officer, as having been subject to this Act when the offence was committed or is suspected of having been committed and as continuing to be subject to this Act thereafter.
(3) Where by virtue of subsection (1) or (2) a person is treated as being at any time subject to this Act for the purpose of any provision of this Act, that provision shall apply to him —
(a)
if he holds any service rank, as to a person having that rank; and
(b)
otherwise as to a person having the rank which he had when last actually subject to this Act.
(4) Where apart from this subsection any provision of this Act would under subsection (3) apply to a person, in relation to different service offences, as to a person having different ranks, it shall apply to him as to a person having the lower or lowest of those ranks.
19.
—(1) Subject to subsection (2) and except in respect of the service offences mentioned in subsection (3), no person shall be liable to be tried by a disciplinary officer unless his trial begins before the expiration of a period of 6 months from the day upon which the service offence was alleged to have been committed.
(2) A person may be tried by a disciplinary officer within 3 years of the date of commission of the offence if he is a reservist.
(3) Every person who is subject to this Act at the time of the alleged commission by him of a service offence of desertion or absence without leave shall continue to be liable to be charged, dealt with and tried at any time under this Act.
(4) In calculating the period of limitation referred to in subsection (1), there shall not be included —
(a)
time during which a person was serving sentence in a prison;
(b)
any period of absence caused by his detention in a drug rehabilitation centre or at any other place pursuant to the provisions of any other written law; and
(c)
any period of absence in respect of which a person has been found guilty by a disciplinary officer of desertion or absence without leave.
(5) Nothing in this section shall affect the jurisdiction of a court to try any person for any service offence committed by him.
20.
—(1) Nothing in this Act shall affect the jurisdiction of any court to try a person for any offence under any other written law triable by the court where the act or omission of that person also constitutes a service offence.
(2) Where a person subject to this Act has been charged with a service offence and has had the charge dealt with by a disciplinary officer, a court shall be debarred from trying him subsequently for an offence substantially the same as that offence; but except as aforesaid nothing in this Act shall be construed as restricting the jurisdiction of any court to try a person subject to this Act for an offence.
(3) For the purposes of this section, a case shall be deemed to have been dealt with by a disciplinary officer notwithstanding that the finding of that officer has been quashed, or the award of that officer quashed or varied, on the review thereof.
(4) A person subject to this Act shall not be tried by a court for any service offence unless the Public Prosecutor has given his consent for the trial.
21. Where a person subject to this Act has been tried for a service offence by a court or has had a service offence committed by him taken into consideration by the court in sentencing him, he shall not be liable in respect of that offence to be dealt with and punished by a disciplinary officer in pursuance of this Act.
22. The principles of the Penal Code with respect to criminal liability shall apply in relation to service offences under this Act (Cap. 103).