In Brief
The appellant, an Indian Army soldier, was subjected to a Summary Court Martial in 1999 for misconduct charges and was punished with reduction in rank. Subsequently, in 2002, he was dismissed from service through an administrative order under Section 20 of the Army Act. The appellant contended this was double jeopardy. The Supreme Court held that the administrative power to dismiss under Section 20 is independent of Court Martial proceedings and does not constitute double jeopardy, especially when the Court Martial order had never been confirmed by the competent authority and thus had not attained finality. The appeal was dismissed.
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