နည်းဥပဒေ၁၉၇

197. In framing a charge against a service personnel who is taken action, in respect of compliance:
(a) the action or omission of the service personnel who is taken action shall be mentioned exactly and framed a charge. In the case which more than one service personnel are involved, the charge shall be framed separately for each service personnel;
(b) the service personnel shall be asked for a written statement against the charges. The service personnel is given sufficient time for written statement and date to be submitted shall be fixed. Enquiry shall be continued only after receiving the written statement;
(c) in the charge sheet:
(i) one or more charges may include;
(ii) the brief description of the allegations or facts on which each of the charges is based shall be stated obviously so that the accused service personnel can defend against each charge;
(iii) only the major charges shall be stated because if there are many charges in the charge sheet, the case tends to be more complicated and enquiry and hearing of the case may delay;
(iv) it shall be stated that the service personnel is needed to give the explanation in the written statement for each of the charges to indicate whether he is guilty or not, why the departmental disciplinary proceedings should not be instituted against him;
(v) it shall include a question asking service personnel whether or not he desires to make an explanation in person and whether or not he desires to be enquired orally;
(vi) it shall be stated that the enquiry will be made by the Departmental Enquiry Board and who will comprise therein when the oral examination is made and the service personnel may object to one or two or the whole members of the board with sufficient reason if he desires to do so;
(vii) in the case which the service personnel has a previous conviction and it is needed to be taken into consideration, it shall be stated that the previous conviction and its penalty will be taken into consideration in imposition of the penalty if the service personnel is found guilty in the current case. If the service personnel desires to argue that the previous conviction should not be considered in the current case, it shall be stated that he may give the explanation in written statement;
(viii) the date on which the written statement to be submitted to the chairperson of the Departmental Enquiry Board shall be fixed;
(ix) if the service personnel is responsible for more than one action or omission, the charge sheets shall be prepared separately for each action or omission;
(d) the charge sheet shall be sent in advance to the service personnel who is taken action and a copy of the charge sheet shall be attached to the case file.