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Company; and (c) it laid the foundations of central administration

in India.

The features of this Act were as follows:

1. It designated the Governor of Bengal as the ‘Governor-

General of Bengal’ and created an Executive Council of four

members to assist him. The first such GovernorGeneral was

Lord Warren Hastings.

2. It made the governors of Bombay and Madras presidencies

subordinate to the governor-general of Bengal, unlike earlier,

when the three presidencies were independent of one

another.

3. It provided for the establishment of a Supreme Court at

Calcutta (1774) comprising one chief justice and three other

judges.

4. It prohibited the servants of the Company from engaging in

any private trade or accepting presents or bribes from the

‘natives’.

5. It strengthened the control of the British Government over

the Company by requiring the Court of Directors (governing

body of the Company) to report on its revenue, civil, and

military affairs in India.

Amending Act of 1781

In a bid to rectify the defects of the Regulating Act of 1773, the

British Parliament passed the Amending Act of 1781, also known

1. It exempted the Governor-General and the Council from the

jurisdiction of the Supreme Court for the acts done by them

in their official capacity. Similarly, it also exempted the

servants of the company from the jurisdiction of the

Supreme Court for their official actions.

2. It excluded the revenue matters and the matters arising in

the collection of revenue from the jurisdiction of the Supreme

Court.

3. It provided that the Supreme Court was to have jurisdiction

over all the inhabitants of Culcutta. It also required the court

to administer the personal law of the defendants i.e., Hindus

were to be tried according to the Hindu law and Muslims

were to be tried according to the Mohammedan law.

4. It laid down that the appeals from the Provincial Courts

could be taken to the Governor-General-in-Council and not

to the Supreme Court.

5. It empowered the Governor-General-inCouncil to frame

regulations for the Provincial Courts and Councils.

Pitt’s India Act of 1784

The next important act was the Pitt’s India Act2 of 1784.

The features of this Act were as follows:

1. It distinguished between the commercial and political

functions of the Company.

2. It allowed the Court of Directors to manage the commercial

affairs, but created a new body called Board of Control to

manage the political affairs. Thus, it established a system of

double government.

3. It empowered the Board of Control to supervise and direct

all operations of the civil and military government or

revenues of the British possessions in India.

Thus, the act was significant for two reasons: first, the

Company’s territories in India were for the first time called the

‘British possessions in India’; and second, the British Government

Act of 1786

In 1786, Lord Cornwallis was appointed as the Governor-General

of Bengal. He placed two demands to accept that post, viz.,

1. He should be given power to override the decision of his

council in special cases.

2. He would also be the Commander-in-Chief.

Accordingly, the Act of 1786 was enacted to make both the

provisions.

Charter Act of 1793

The features of this Act were as follows:

1. It extended the overriding power given to Lord Cornwallis

over his council, to all future Governor-Generals and

Governors of Presidencies.

2. It gave the Governor-General more powers and control over

the governments of the subordinate Presidencies of Bombay

and Madras.

3. It extended the trade monopoly of the Company in India for

another period of twenty years.

4. It provided that the Commander-in-Chief was not to be a

member of the Governor-General’s council, unless he was

so appointed.

5. It laid down that the members of the Board of Control and

their staff were, henceforth, to be paid out of the Indian

revenues.

Charter Act of 1813

The features of this Act were as follows:

1. It abolished the trade monopoly of the company in India i.e.,

the Indian trade was thrown open to all British merchants.

However, it continued the monopoly of the company over

trade in tea and trade with China.

2. It asserted the sovereignty of the British Crown over the

Company’s territories in India.

3. It allowed the Christian missionaries to come to India for the

4. It provided for the spread of western education among the

inhabitants of the British territories in India.

5. It authorised the Local Governments in India to impose

taxes on persons. They could also punish the persons for

not paying taxes.

Charter Act of 1833

This Act was the final step towards centralisation in British India.

The features of this Act were as follows:

1. It made the Governor-General of Bengal as the Governor-

General of India and vested in him all civil and military

powers. Thus, the act created, for the first time, Government

of India having authority over the entire territorial area

possessed by the British in India. Lord William Bentick was

the first Governor-General of India.

2. It deprived the Governor of Bombay and Madras of their

legislative powers. The Governor-General of India was given

exclusive legislative powers for the entire British India. The

laws made under the previous acts were called as

Regulations, while laws made under this act were called as

Acts.

3. It ended the activities of the East India Company as a

commercial body, which became a purely administrative

body. It provided that the Company’s territories in India were

held by it ‘in trust for His Majesty, His heirs and successors’.

4. The Charter Act of 1833 attempted to introduce a system of

open competition for selection of civil servants and stated

that the Indians should not be debarred from holding any

place, office and employment under the Company. However,

this provision was negated after opposition from the Court of

Directors.

Charter Act of 1853

This was the last of the series of Charter Acts passed by the

British Parliament between 1793 and 1853. It was a significant

The features of this Act were as follows:

1. It separated, for the first time, the legislative and executive

functions of the Governor-General’s council. It provided for

addition of six new members called legislative councillors to

the council. In other words, it established a separate

Governor-General’s legislative council which came to be

known as the Indian (Central) Legislative Council. This

legislative wing of the council functioned as a mini-

Parliament, adopting the same procedures as the British

Parliament. Thus, legislation, for the first time, was treated

as a special function of the government, requiring special

machinery and special process.

2. It introduced an open competition system of selection and

recruitment of civil servants. The covenanted civil service3

was, thus, thrown open to the Indians also. Accordingly, the

Macaulay Committee (the Committee on the Indian Civil

Service) was appointed in 1854.

3. It extended the Company’s rule and allowed it to retain the

possession of Indian territories on trust for the British Crown.

But, it did not specify any particular period, unlike the

previous Charters. This was a clear indication that the

Company’s rule could be terminated at any time the

Parliament liked.

4. It introduced, for the first time, local representation in the

Indian (Central) Legislative Council. Of the six new

legislative members of the GovernorGeneral’s council, four

members were appointed by the local (provincial)

THE CROWN RULE (1858–1947)

Government of India Act of 1858

This significant Act was enacted in the wake of the Revolt of

1857–also known as the First War of Independence or the ‘sepoy

mutiny’. The act known as the Act for the Good Government of

India, abolished the East India Company, and transferred the

powers of Government, territories and revenues to the British

Crown.

The features of this Act were as follows:

1. It provided that India, henceforth, was to be governed by,

and in the name of, Her Majesty. It changed the designation

of the Governor-General of India to that of Viceroy of India.

He (Viceroy) was the direct representative of the British

Crown in India. Lord Canning, thus, became the first Viceroy

of India.

2. It ended the system of double Government by abolishing the

Board of Control and Court of Directors.

3. It created a new office, Secretary of State for India, vested

with complete authority and control over Indian

administration. The secretary of state was a member of the

British Cabinet and was responsible ultimately to the British

Parliament.

4. It established a 15-member council of India to assist the

Secretary of State for India. The council was an advisory

body. The secretary of state was made the Chairman of the

council.

5. It constituted the Secretary of State-inCouncil as a body

corporate, capable of suing and being sued in India and in

England.

‘The Act of 1858 was, however, largely confined to the

improvement of the administrative machinery by which the Indian

Government was to be supervised and controlled in England. It

did not alter in any substantial way the system of Government that

Indian Councils Act of 1861

After the great revolt of 1857, the British Government felt the

necessity of seeking the cooperation of the Indians in the

administration of their country. In pursuance of this policy of

association, three acts were enacted by the British Parliament in

1861, 1892 and 1909. The Indian Councils Act of 1861 is an

important landmark in the constitutional and political history of

India.

The features of this Act were as follows:

1. It made a beginning of the representative institutions by

associating Indians with the law-making process. It, thus,

provided that the Viceroy should nominate some Indians as

non-official members of his expanded council. In 1862, Lord

Canning, the then Viceroy, nominated three Indians to his

legislative council–the Raja of Benaras, the Maharaja of

Patiala and Sir Dinkar Rao.

2. It initiated the process of decentralisation by restoring the

legislative powers to the Bombay and Madras Presidencies.

It, thus, reversed the centralising tendency that started from

the Regulating Act of 1773 and reached its climax under the

Charter Act of 1833. This policy of legislative devolution

resulted in the grant of almost complete internal autonomy to

the provinces in 1937.

3. It also provided for the establishment of new legislative

councils for Bengal, North-Western Provinces and Punjab,

which were established in 1862, 1886 and 1897,

respectively.

4. It empowered the Viceroy to make rules and orders for the

more convenient transaction of business in the council. It

also gave a recognition to the ‘portfolio’ system, introduced

by Lord Canning in 1859. Under this, a member of the

Viceroy’s council was made in-charge of one or more

departments of the Government and was authorised to issue

final orders on behalf of the council on matters of his

department(s).

5. It empowered the Viceroy to issue ordinances, without the

The life of such an ordinance was six months.

Indian Councils Act of 1892

The features of this Act were as follows:

1. It increased the number of additional (non-official) members

in the Central and provincial legislative councils, but

maintained the official majority in them.

2. It increased the functions of legislative councils and gave

them the power of discussing the budget5 and addressing

questions to the executive.

3. It provided for the nomination of some non-official members

of the (a) Central Legislative Council by the viceroy on the

recommendation of the provincial legislative councils and the

Bengal Chamber of Commerce, and (b) that of the provincial

legislative councils by the Governors on the

recommendation of the district boards, municipalities,

universities, trade associations, zamin-dars and chambers.

‘The act made a limited and indirect provision for the use of

election in filling up some of the non-official seats both in the

Central and provincial legislative councils. The word “election”

was, however, not used in the Act. The process was described as

nomination made on the recommendation of certain bodies6 .’

Indian Councils Act of 1909

This Act is also known as Morley-Minto Reforms (Lord Morley was

the then Secretary of State for India and Lord Minto was the then

Viceroy of India).

The features of this Act were as follows:

1. It considerably increased the size of the legislative councils,

both Central and provincial. The number of members in the

Central legislative council was raised from 16 to 60. The

number of members in the provincial legislative councils was

not uniform.

2. It retained official majority in the Central legislative council,

but allowed the provincial legislative councils to have non-

3. It enlarged the deliberative functions of the legislative

councils at both the levels. For example, members were

allowed to ask supplementary questions, move resolutions

on the budget and so on.

4. It provided (for the first time) for the association of Indians

with the executive councils of the Viceroy and Governors.

Satyendra Prasad Sinha became the first Indian to join the

Viceroy’s executive council. He was appointed as the Law

Member.

5. It introduced a system of communal representation for

Muslims by accepting the concept of ‘separate electorate’.

Under this, the Muslim members were to be elected only by

Muslim voters. Thus, the Act ‘legalised communalism’ and

Lord Minto came to be known as the Father of Communal

Electorate.

6. It also provided for the separate representation of

presidency corporations, chambers of commerce,

universities and zamindars.

Government of India Act of 1919

On August 20, 1917, the British Government declared, for the first

time, that its objective was the gradual introduction of responsible

Government in India7 .

The Government of India Act of 1919 was thus enacted, which

came into force in 1921. This Act is also known as Montagu-

Chelmsford Reforms (Montagu was the Secretary of State for

India and Lord Chelmsford was the Viceroy of India).

The features of this Act were as follows:

1. It relaxed the central control over the provinces by

demarcating and separating the central and provincial

subjects. The central and provincial legislatures were

authorised to make laws on their respective list of subjects.

However, the structure of government continued to be

centralised and unitary.

2. It further divided the provincial subjects into two parts–

transferred and reserved. The transferred subjects were to

be administered by the Governor with the aid of Ministers

responsible to the legislative council. The reserved subjects,

on the other hand, were to be administered by the Governor

and his executive council without being responsible to the

legislative council. This dual scheme of governance was

known as ‘dyarchy’–a term derived from the Greek word di-

arche which means double rule. However, this experiment

was largely unsuccessful.

3. It introduced, for the first time, bicameralism and direct

elections in the country. Thus, the Indian legislative council

was replaced by a bicameral legislature consisting of an

Upper House (Council of State) and a Lower House

(Legislative Assembly). The majority of members of both the