Defence Services (Inquiry) (Special Provisions) Ordinance, 1969

This 1969 Ordinance creates a uniform procedure for investigating the conduct of a member of Pakistan's Defence Services (Army, Navy or Air Force) when they were serving outside their own service's normal organisational unit at the time of the alleged misconduct -- a gap the normal service laws didn't clearly cover. Section 2 defines key terms: a "board of inquiry" convened under this Ordinance; "Chief of Staff" of the relevant service; "commanding officer" of the unit the person was serving in or attached to; and "service law" referring to the Pakistan Army Act, 1952, the Pakistan Air Force Act, 1953, or the Pakistan Navy Ordinance, 1961, as applicable.

Section 3 sets out when this special inquiry procedure applies: where the conduct being investigated happened while the person was serving or attached (other than on secondment) to an organisation or unit other than their own service's, or where the conduct involves another person who wasn't subject to the same service law during the relevant period.

Section 4 determines who convenes the board of inquiry: if the conduct concerns a commanding officer (alone or with another person), the Chief of Staff of that officer's service convenes it; otherwise, the commanding officer does. Section 5 covers the board's composition and process, which is set by rules, and requires the board's president to submit findings and recommendations after the inquiry concludes. The commanding officer then either acts on matters within their own authority (informing the Chief of Staff) or forwards the matter with recommendations to the Chief of Staff, who directs how the person should be dealt with under the applicable service law -- the board's proceedings can be used as if they were a normal service board or court of inquiry.

Section 6 gives the Federal Government power to make rules covering the board's composition, how it's convened, and inquiry procedure. This is a specialized, procedural military law, and a footnote confirms it was validated by the Validation of Laws Act, 1975, suggesting some historical question about its original enactment; given its narrow military-administrative scope, current applicability should be checked against present service regulations.