(1) Where a person subject to this Act is sentenced to imprisonment or detention, the Central Government, the Director-General, the Commanding Officer imposing the sentence or any prescribed officer may suspend the sentence whether or not the offender has already been committed to prison or to Coast Guard custody.
     (2) The authority or officer specified in sub-section (1) may, in the case of an offender so sentenced, direct that until the orders of such authority or officer have been obtained, the offender shall not be committed to prison or to Coast Guard custody.
     (3) The powers conferred by sub-sections (1) and (2) may be exercised in the case of any such sentence which has been reduced or commuted.