63Convictions by courts

63 Convictions by courts

(1) Where:

(a) a court has, after 15 September 1980, convicted an officer of a criminal offence or found, without recording a conviction, that such an officer has committed such an offence; and

(b) the relevant Secretary, after giving the officer an opportunity to furnish to him, in writing, any statement that he desires to furnish in relation to the offence, is of the opinion that, having regard to the nature and seriousness of the offence, the circumstances in which it was committed and the nature of the duties of the officer, he is justified in so doing in the interests of the Service;

the relevant Secretary may counsel the officer or may:

(c) direct that there be taken, in respect of the officer, action by way of:

(i) transferring the officer to a specified office (whether or not at the same or a different locality), being an office for which he is qualified and which has the same classification as the classification of the office held by him; or

(ii) transferring the officer to a specified office (whether or not at the same or a different locality), being an office for which he is qualified and which has a lower classification than the classification of the office held by him and, if there is a salary range applicable to the office so specified, determining that he be paid a specified salary within that range; or

(d) direct that the officer be dismissed from the Service.

(4) Where the relevant Secretary gives a direction of a kind referred to in paragraph (1)(c) or (d) in respect of an officer, he shall furnish to the officer particulars of his reasons for giving that direction. (5) A direction under this section in respect of an officer takes effect:

(a) if the officer has no right of appeal against the direction—on the day on which the officer is furnished with particulars of the reasons for the giving of the direction; or

(b) if the officer has a right of appeal against the direction and appeals—on the lapsing or withdrawal of the appeal or on a Disciplinary Appeal Committee confirming the direction, whichever happens first; or

(c) in any other case—at the end of the period within which the officer may appeal against the direction to a Disciplinary Appeal Committee.

(6) The fact that an officer is, or is not, counselled, or that other action is, or is not, taken against an officer, under this section, in respect of a criminal offence shall not be taken to preclude the Commissioner, a body, a Secretary or another person, from having regard to the conviction or finding, to the nature and seriousness of the offence and to the circumstances in which the offence was committed in the course of exercising a power or performing a function conferred on it or him by this Act or by the regulations if those matters are relevant to the manner in which the power should be exercised or function should be performed. (7) Nothing in subsection (6) shall be taken to authorize the charging of an officer under section 61, and the taking of action in respect of the officer under this section, in relation to the same matter.