(1)Notwithstanding anything contained in these rules, the appointing authority may as its discretion, place a person subject to the Act, under suspension:-
(i) Where a disciplinary action under the Act against him is contemplated or is pending or
(ii) Where in the opinion of such authority, he has engaged himself in activities prejudicial to theinterest or the security of the state.
Provided that the Director-General may exercise the power of suspension in respect of personnel upto the rank of Commandant (Junior Grade) :
Provided further that the Director-General shall report the facts of each case of suspension under the first proviso immediately to the Central Government and all such orders of suspension shall not be valid unless confirmed by the Central Government within a period of one month from the date of the said order.
(2) A person subject to the Act shall be deemed to have been placed under suspension by an order of the appointing authority :-
(i) with effect from the date of his detention where his detention by the civil police on a criminal charge or otherwise exceeds a period of twentyfour hours ;
or
(ii) with effect from the date of his conviction if he is convicted by any court on a criminal charge and awarded a sentence of imprisonment for a exceeding forty-eight hours.
(3) An order of suspension made or deemed to have been made under this rule shall continue to remain in force until it is modified or revoked by the competent authority.
(4) An order of suspension made or deemed to have been made under this rule may, at any time, be modified or revoked by the authority, which made the order or by any authority to which that authority is subordinate.
(5) When a person remains under suspension for more than ninety days, a report, giving reasons for delay in the finalization of his case, shall be submitted to the Director General by the Commanding Officer of the accused, and thereafter, subsequent reports shall be submitted every month till the case is finalised or the order of suspension is revoked, whichever is earlier.”,
6. In rule 16 of principal rules, -
(a) in sub-rule(1), in clause (b) for the words “to claim for” the word, figure and letter “to claim as per Appendix IIA” shall be substituted.
(b) in sub-rule(2), in clause (a) the words “active”, occurring at both the places, shall be omitted:
7. For rule 20 of the principal rules, the following rule shall be substituted, namely :- “20. Hearing of charge – (1) Every charge against a person subject to the Act shall be heard by the Commanding Officer in the presence of the accused, who shall have full liberty to cross examine any witness against him, and to call such Witness and make such statement as may be necessary for his defence:
Provided that where the charge against the accused arises as a result of investigation by a Board of Inquiry convened under rule 36 of the Coast Guard (General) Rules, 1986 and where the provisions of sub-rule (4) of rule 39 of the principal rules have been complied with, the Commanding Officer may dispense with the above procedure.
(2) The Commanding Officer shall dismiss a charge brought before him, if, in his opinion, the evidence does not show that an offence under the Act has been committed, or if he is satisfied that the charge ought not to be proceeded with :
(3) after compliance of sub-rule(1), if the Commanding Officer is of opinion that the charge ought to be proceeded with, he shall, within a reasonable time, -
(a) award any of the punishment which he is empowered to award; or
(b) remand the accused for preparing a record of evidence or an abstract of evidence against him.
Provided that where the Commanding Officer proposes to award any of the punishments under section 57 of the Act, which required approval, he shall prepare a Record of Evidence or an Abstract of Evidence and forward it alongwith the Punishment Approval Form set out in Appendix III B”.
8. In rule 21 of the principal rules, in clause (c), for the words “personally interested in the case and”, the words “personal interested in the case” shall be substituted;
9. In rule 24 of the principal rules, in sub-rule(3), for the word, brackets and figure “sub-rule(3)”, the word brackets and figure “sub-rule(4)” shall be substituted;
10. In rule 28 of the principal rules, -
(a) in clasue (b), for the words, brackets and letters “specified in clauses (a),
(c) and (d)” the words, brackets and letters “specified in clauses (c) and (d)” shall be substituted;
(b) after clause (i), the following clauses shall be inerted, namely :- “(g) the date of Punishment Approval Form and the date of reading the Punishment Approval Form shall always be the same and where there is an unreasonable interval between the dates of commission of the offence and the reading of Punishment Approval Form, the reason for such interval shall be stated in the Punishment Approval Form;
(c) after clause (i), the following clauses shall be inserted, namely :- “(j) The punishment of imprisonment or detention if not suspended, shall commence on the day on which the Punishment Approval Form is formally read over to the offender;
Provided that where the offender has been kept in custody from the date on which the authority who tried him signed the Punishment Approval form, the sentence shall begin to run from the date;
(k) the other punishments shall take effect on the date on which the Punishment Approval Form is formally read over to the offender.
(l) Notwithstanding that the state of health of the offender is such as renders him unable to undergo the whole or any part of the punishment to which he may have rendered himself liable and it appears probable that he will be invalidated from the service or remains unfit for punishment for a considerable period of time, the punishment meted out for his offence shall be awarded and if it requires a Punishment Approval Form, it is to be completed and duly signed and read over, where necessary, in the absence of the offender in order that he may not escape the consequences of the other punishments such as loss of pay stoppage of leave, etc”;
11. In rule 29 of the principal rules, for clause (b), the following clause shall be substituted, namely :- “(b) below the rank in which he joined the Coast Guard”;
12. In rule 31 of the principal rules, in clause (g) –
(i) for the words, brackets and figure “in accordance with sub-rule(1)”, the words, brackets and letter “in accordance with rub-rule(f)” shall be substituted;
(ii) for the words, “for such a day’s absence”, the words “or each day’s absence” shall be substituted;
13. in rule 32 of the principal rules, -
(i) in sub-rule(1), for the words “washing allowance”, the words “composite personal maintenance hygiene allowance”, shall be substituted;
(ii) after sub-rule(2), the following sub-rule shall be inserted, namely :- “(3) Where mulcts of pay and allowances are awarded for absence without leave, the period shall be treated as regularized for all purposes”,
14. In rule 41 of the principal rules, for the words “Uttam Yantriks”, the words “Yantriks”, shall be substituted,
15. In rule 42 of the principal rules, in the opining portion for the words “Navik, Yantrik and enrolled persons”, the words “Naviks and Enrolled Followers”, shall be substituted.
16. In rule 43 of the principal rules, for sub-rule (3), the following sub-rule shall be substituted, namely ;
“(3) While under stoppage of leave, a person shall not be allowed to leave the ship or station except on duty, he may, however, be allowed to proceed on leave at the discretion of the Commanding Officer”